Notes on the Iron Content of the Blood and Liver of some Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Animals

• Other Authors: AADC (owner), AADC, DATA OFFICER (distributor), AADC, DATA OFFICER (custodian), AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia (hasAssociationWith), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher), Australian Antarctic Division (sponsor), CONNELL, DAVE J. (author), KERRY, KNOWLES (collaborator)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: biota; oceans; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CARNIVORES > SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES; ANIMAL NO; ANTARCTIC; BLOOD; BLOOD FE (UG/ML); COMMENTS; COMMON NAME; DATE; DETAILS; DUCK; FOWL; HAEMO-SIDERIN IN LIVER; HAEMOGLOBIN; IRON; IRON CONTENT BLOOD (MICRO GRAMS PER ML); IRON CONTENT LIVER (PPM ON DRY MATTER); LIVER; LIVER FE (P.P.M. ON DRY LIVER); LOCALITY; NO. OF SAMPLES; PENGUINS; PETRELS; RABBIT; SCIENTIFIC NAME; SEALS; SHEEP; SKUAS; SPECIALS; SUBANTARCTIC; TAXON ID; WHALES; MICROSCOPES; LABORATORY; AMD/AU; CEOS; AMD; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN; CONTINENT > AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND > AUSTRALIA > Brisbane; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Heard Island; Leopard Seal; Southern Ocean; walrus*
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/notes-iron-content-antarctic-animals/2822898

Progress Code: completed Introduction: During the seasons of 1954-1956 samples of liver and blood were collected from animals at Heard Island and Antarctica by members of the Australian Antarctic Expeditions. These samples were obtained primarily for determination of copper levels (see reference). Iron determinations were made concurrently by Beck and histological examinations were made on some of the liver samples by the late Dr H.W. Bennetts, at that time the Veterniary Pathologist of the Department of Agriculture. The data were not extensive enough for publication, but they are presented here for the information of other workers. Experimental: Blood was collected as it flowed from the bullet-hole after shooting. Samples were collected in bottles containing purified potassium oxalate and were subsequently preserved with purified thymol. Liver samples for analyses were preserved in a purified ethanol-formalin mixture. Those for histological studies were stored in buffered formal-saline. No special precautions were taken to remove all blood from the liver samples. Iron was estimated by the thioglycollic acid method of Mayer and Bradshaw (Analyst, 1951, 76, 715) after oxidation of organic matter with nitric, sulphuric and perchloric acids. Blood iron results are expressed as micrograms Fe per ml. If seal and penguin haemoglobin is similar to that of terrestrial species, 680 micrograms Fe per ml will equal about 20g haemoglobin per 100 ml blood. Liver results are expressed as parts per million Fe on dry matter. No correction was made for fat content as all samples (except for one leopard seal) were low in fat. The sample from the leopard seal contained 28% fat and the iron content has been calculated to a fat free basis. As it was possible that the high levels of iron are related to the diving habits of the seals, iron determinations were also made on livers from whales taken along the Australian coast. Some blood and liver iron levels for terrestrial species and for the Australian salmon are included for ...