Oxygen Dissociation Curves of the Blood of Landlocked Salmon ( Salmo salar sebago ) Acclimated to Summer and Winter Temperatures

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Authors: Black, Edgar C., Kirkpatrick, Donald, Tucker, Harold H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1966
• Subjects: General Medicine; Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f66-146; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f66-146

Oxygen dissociation curves for the blood of landlocked salmon (Salmo salar sebago) were constructed at three tensions of carbon dioxide, viz. 0–1 mm Hg, 10 mm Hg, and 40 mm Hg; and at two temperatures: 5 C and 25 C. Carbon dioxide dissociation curves were constructed at 5 C. Gas tensions in mixed venous blood were determined for one salmon only, at 5 C. Oxygen dissociation curves at two temperatures were carried out for fish acclimated to summer and winter conditions.Oxygen and carbon dioxide dissociation curves for the landlocked were similar in character to those of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The Bohr effect in the landlocked salmon is of sufficient magnitude to counterbalance the effect of lowered temperature upon the affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen. No influence of acclimation was observed for the effect of carbon dioxide on the equilibrium between oxygen and hemoglobin.