QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online December 15, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 169-177 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01361

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lee, H. J. Articles by Graham, J. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lee, H. J. Articles by Graham, J. B. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Burrow air phase maintenance and respiration by the mudskipper Scartelaos histophorus (Gobiidae: Oxudercinae)

Heather J. Lee^1,*, Callie A. Martinez², Katherine J. Hertzberg³, Amy L. Hamilton⁴ and Jeffrey B. Graham¹

¹ Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine and Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0204, USA
² Department of Integrative Biology, 3060 VLSB, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA
³ Biological Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0236, USA
⁴ MEC Analytical Systems Inc., 2433 Impala Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: hboyle{at}iacs5.ucsd.edu)

Accepted 27 October 2004

A laboratory burrow and mudflat system was used to examine aspects of burrow air-phase maintenance and utilization by the amphibious mudskipper Scartelaos histophorus. While confined to its burrow during simulated `high tide', this species respires both aquatically and aerially, in the latter case utilizing an air phase it had established by transporting air into the burrow during simulated `low tide'. Over the course of `high-tide' confinement, burrow-water P<sub>O2</sub> declines, making the air phase more important for respiration; the burrow-water O<sub>2</sub> tension eliciting air-phase respiration is 4.8±0.2 kPa. At `low tide', when the fish has access to air, it deposits new air in the air phase by transporting gulps into the burrow and releasing them. Observed air-deposition rates for both males and females were 12.3±4.5 trips h^-1. All of the fish tested (N=8 individuals + 2 pairs) deposited air and responded to experimental air-phase withdrawal by replacing the air (72 of 74 tests, 97.3%). Also, repeated tests with one fish showed that experimental reduction of the air-phase P_O2 by mixing with N₂ elicited a gas-expelling behavior at O₂ levels less than 10.3 kPa. At O₂ levels greater than 10.3 kPa, the fish left the air phase intact and added to it by depositing surface air.

Key words: Gobiidae, Oxudercinae, mudskipper, Scartelaos histophorus, burrowing biology, air phase, air-deposition behavior

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Ishimatsu, Y. Yoshida, N. Itoki, T. Takeda, H. J. Lee, and J. B. Graham Mudskippers brood their eggs in air but submerge them for hatching J. Exp. Biol., November 15, 2007; 210(22): 3946 - 3954. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Fluck, K. A. Webster, J. Graham, F. Giomi, F. Gerlach, and A. Schmitz Coping with cyclic oxygen availability: evolutionary aspects Integr. Comp. Biol., October 1, 2007; 47(4): 524 - 531. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]