Subsurface Buoyancy Regulation by the Sea Snake Pelamis platurus

Graham, John L.; Gee, John H.; Motta, Jorge; Rubinoff, Ira

doi:10.1086/physzool.60.2.30158649

Cited by 31 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…However, this dive type has never been observed in the extensive literature on diving mammals and birds and seems to be reptilianspecific. In agreement with the findings of Graham et al (1987), it was shown that the ascent rate during the dive stop was significantly different from ascent rates in the other phases, thus highlighting the importance of Phase 111. Graham et al (1987) suggested this to be a way of passive locomotion due to the positive buoyancy of the expanding lung.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In agreement with the findings of Graham et al (1987), it was shown that the ascent rate during the dive stop was significantly different from ascent rates in the other phases, thus highlighting the importance of Phase 111. Graham et al (1987) suggested this to be a way of passive locomotion due to the positive buoyancy of the expanding lung. Jacobs (1940) reported that sea turtles inhale a specific limited depth-related amount of air so as to regulate buoyancy during a dive, dependent on the proposed maximum dive depth.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…S-dives have not been descnbed for sea turtles in former studies, but have been observed in the yellowbellied sea snake Pelamis platurus (Rubinoff et al 1986, Graham et al 1987). However, this dive type has never been observed in the extensive literature on diving mammals and birds and seems to be reptilianspecific.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…1). This dive type could be divided into 4 the size of the chimney leading from the exterior to the phases following suggestions by Graham et al (1987) [-----) Depth at which a dive was considered a discrete dive delineated by points of inflection in the dive profile: Phase I was a rapid descent to a maximum depth (mean V, = 0.13 m s-', SD = 0.06, n = 68); Phase I1…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reptilian diving:highly variable dive patterns in the green turtle Chelonia mydas

Hochscheid¹,

Godley²,

Broderick³

et al. 1999

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

110

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Diving reptiles, unlike most diving birds and marnrnals, return infrequently to the surface to breathe. Spending the bulk of their lives underwater, they are likely to have developed a large vanety of specific behavioural patterns different from those of their warm-blooded Counterparts. However, for technical reasons, underwater behaviour of these aquatic reptiles rernains poorly understood. In this study green turtles Chelonia mydas nesting on Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean) were equipped with multi-channel data loggers monitoring diving behaviour and activity (via a logger-integrated 3-D compass which served as an activity sensor) during the inter-nesting interval. Data from 2 turtles for 2 consecutive inter-nesting intervals were available for detailed dive analysis. Both turtles showed highly variable dive patterns ranging from travelling subsurface dives to specific dive types such as U-(rnainly resting and foraging dives), S-(a form of energy saving swimming) and V-dives. The green turtles stayed near the coast throughout the study, dived no deeper than ca 25 m, but remained underwater for up to ca 40 min The recordings of the activity sensor revealed high activity levels (less than 20% resting d-') during the whole inter-nesting penod which was attributed to extensive foraging. The combination of both the activity data and the dive data showed that the turtles were engaged in traveliing movernents for 46% of the inter-nesting time spent underwater, foraged for 34 % and rested for 1 2 % of the time. We discuss the physiological, ecological and conservation implications of these results.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reptilian diving:highly variable dive patterns in the green turtle Chelonia mydas

Hochscheid¹,

Godley²,

Broderick³

et al. 1999

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

110

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“…Morphological and physiological adjustments to repeated breath-hold diving have been studied in detail in hard-shelled turtles and sea snakes (e.g. Berkson, 1966;Seymour, 1974;Seymour and Webster, 1975;Lutz and Bentley, 1985;Lutcavage and Lutz, 1991;Wyneken, 2008), and it has been shown that individuals can adjust the amount of inspired air to be near neutral buoyancy at depth (Graham et al, 1987;Minamikawa et al, 2000;Hays et al, 2004b) in a manner similar to that of marine birds (Sato et al, 2002;Wilson, 2003;Cook et al, 2010). However, both groups are relatively shallow divers (Heatwole, 1999;Hochscheid et al, 1999;Hays et al, 2001;Houghton et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behaviour and buoyancy regulation in the deepest-diving reptile: the leatherback turtle

Fossette

Gleiss

Myers

et al. 2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY) and a low pitch angle (~+26 deg). Turtles might avoid succumbing to decompression sickness ('the bends') by ascending slowly to the surface. In addition, we suggest that the low body temperature of this marine ectotherm compared with that of endotherms might help reduce the risk of bubble formation by increasing the solubility of nitrogen in the blood. This physiological advantage, coupled with several behavioural and physical adaptations, might explain the particular ecological niche the leatherback turtle occupies among marine reptiles.

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