Blood respiratory properties of a viviparous amphibian

Abstract

BURROWING apodan amphibians (order Gymnophiona) are relatively common in the Amazon River Basin of South America but the physiology of the group has been little studied. The animals are usually fossorial, living burrowed in the mud banks of small tributaries of the main river. The burrows, which they presumably dig, are small and conditions are often both hypoxic and hypercarbic. Animals 0.25–0.75 m long and weighing 100–600 g, found near the air–water interface, were dug out of the mud banks and immediately taken to the laboratory of the research vessel RV Alpha Helix for study. Several species of burrowing apodans occur in the area, but the most common is Typhlonectes compressicauda, the animal used in this study. We report here on the blood respiratory properties of this organism.