The oxygen-transport system of two species of Antarctic fishes belonging to the family Artedidraconidae, Artedidraco orianae and Pogonophryne scotti, was thoroughly investigated. The complete amino acid sequence of the ␣ and  chains of the single hemoglobins of the two species was established. The oxygen-binding properties were also investigated, and were found not to differ significantly from those shown by blood, intact erythrocytes, and unstripped hemolysates. Both hemoglobins have unusually high oxygen affinity and display a relatively small Bohr effect; the Root effect is elicited only by organophosphates and is also reduced. Remarkably, the Hill coefficient is close to one in the whole pH range, indicating absence of cooperative oxygen binding which, in A. orianae hemoglobin, could be ascribed to the subunit heterogeneity shown upon oxygen dissociation. In comparison with the other families of the suborder Notothenioidei, the oxygen-transport system of these two species of Artedidraconidae has unique characteristics, which raise interesting questions on the mode of function of a multisubunit molecule and the relationship with cold adaptation.During adaptation to low temperatures, Antarctic fishes have acquired special hematological features which clearly differentiate them from fishes of temperate and tropical climates. The hematocrit and hemoglobin (Hb) 1 concentration are highly reduced in the blood of Antarctic fishes (1-3), as well as the number of Hb components. At the extreme of such evolution, the 15 species of the family Channichthyidae are characterized by lack of Hb (4).The hematological peculiarities of Antarctic teleosts prompted an investigation on the molecular structure and ligand binding properties of hemoglobins (Hbs) from these organisms, in order to characterize the adaptation of the oxygentransport mechanism at the molecular level. We focused our interest on the suborder Notothenioidei, largely endemic and confined south of the Antarctic Polar Front. The suborder includes six families with 120 species, 95 of which are Antarctic (5, 6): Bovichtidae, Nototheniidae, Harpagiferidae, Artedidraconidae, Bathydraconidae, and Channichthyidae (in fact, the families might be seven, since recent evidence (7) suggests that Bovichtidae should be grouped into Pseudaphritidae and Bovichtidae).Notothenioids generally have a single major Hb (Hb 1), often accompanied by a minor component (Hb 2), accounting for approximately 95 and 5% of the total, respectively (8 -10). A cathodal Hb (Hb C) is present in trace amounts, except in Trematomus newnesi, of the family Nototheniidae, in which Hb C is approximately 25-30% of the total (11).In this study, the oxygen-transport system of species of the family Artedidraconidae, which comprises 24 of the 80 redblooded Antarctic species of the suborder Notothenioidei so far identified (5, 6), was thoroughly investigated for the first time. Artedidraconids are benthic fish, have a wide depth distribution, and are largely confined in the Antarctic continental shelf and...