Oxygen consumption in burrowed and unburrowed ammocoetes of Lampetra planeri (Bloch).
Abstract 1. 1. At 15°C, the attainment of a constant rate of oxygen consumption took up to approximately 3 hr in burrowed and 12 hr in unburrowed ammocoetes. 2. 2. The rate in acclimated ammocoetes (mean wet wt. l·34g) burrowed in the light and dark was 41·7 and 40·1 μl/g per hr respectively and in unburrowed animals under the same regimes was 69·0 and 55·7 μl/g per hr. 3. 3. These results clarify conflicting previous recordings and indicate that ammocoetes have a very low metabolic rate.
Basal oxygen consumption, ventilatory frequency, and heart rate during the protracted spawning run of the Southern Hemisphere lamprey Geotria australis
SummaryBasal oxygen consumption, ventilatory frequency, and heart rate were recorded at four different times during the unusually protracted 15–16-month spawning run of the Southern Hemisphere lamprey Geotria australis. At 15°C, the mean basal oxygen consumption of G. australis caught immediately after they had left the sea and embarked on the spawning run (45 μl · g-1 · h-1) was less than in young adults about to commence their marine feeding phase (64 μl · g-1 · h-1), but greater than in large ammocoetes (26.5 μl · g-1 · h-1). Basal oxygen consumption fell progressively during the spawning-run of to 33 μl · g-1 · h-1 after 5 months and 25 μl · g-1 · h-1 after 10 months, before rising to 35 μl · g-1 · h-1 after 15 months when the animals were approaching sexual maturity. The downwards trend in basal oxygen consumption contrasts with that recorded during the spawning run of Lampetra fluviatilis. Furthermore, these values for spawning-run of G. australis are far lower than those measured at any time during the upstream migration of L. fluviatilis or during the parasitic phase of landlocked Petromyzon marinus. A low and declining metabolic rate during much of the spawning run of G. australis would facilitate the conservation of energy reserves during this very long non-feeding period. Trends shown by ventilatory frequency and heart rate essentially parallel those of basal oxygen consumption. The Q10s for basal oxygen consumption, ventilatory frequency and heart rate over the temperature range 5–25°C were 1.6, 1.6, and 1.7, respectively. The trends shown by basal oxygen consumption during metamorphosis and the upstream migration did not parallel those exhibited by circulating thyroid hormones.
Taphonomy of Isisfordia duncani specimens from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) portion of the Winton Formation, Isisford, central-west Queensland
Taphonomic analysis of fossil material can benefit from including the results of actualistic decay experiments. This is crucial in determining the autochthony or allochthony of fossils of juvenile and adult Isisfordia duncani, a basal eusuchian from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) distal-fluvial-deltaic lower Winton Formation near Isisford. The taphonomic characteristics of the I. duncani fossils were documented using a combination of traditional taphonomic analysis alongside already published actualistic decay data from juvenile Crocodylus porosus carcasses. We found that the I. duncani holotype, paratypes and referred specimens show little signs of weathering and no signs of abrasion. Disarticulated skeletal elements are often found in close proximity to the rest of the otherwise articulated skeleton. The isolated and disarticulated skeletal elements identified, commonly cranial, maxillary and mandibular elements, are typical of lag deposits. The holotype QM F36211 and paratype QM F34642 were classified as autochthonous, and the remaining I. duncani paratypes and referred specimens are parautochthonous. We propose that I. duncani inhabited upper and lower delta plains near the Eromanga Sea in life. Their carcasses were buried in sediment-laden floodwaters in delta plain overbank and distributary channel deposits. Future studies should refer to I. duncani as a brackish water tolerant species.