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Behavioural, physiological and morphological adaptations of the shanny (Blennius pholis) to the intertidal habitat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

M. J. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland, BT7 1NN

Extract

Immersed shannies (Blennius pholis) showed peak locomotory activity coincident with daylight high tides. Emersion caused cessation of breathing and bradycardia though Q02 was little affected. Q02 fell, however, when the abdomen was enclosed in an impermeable sheath to block cutaneous respiration. Gulping of air into the extensively vascular oesophagus probably also acts as a means of aerial respiration. Reimmersion of fish caused a transient bradycardia followed by a tachycardia and a fall in Q02 followed subsequently by a rise. The results are discussed in relation to the behavioural, circulatory, respiratory and morphological adaptations of the shanny to the intertidal habitat.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1982

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