128
R. K. DELL
Dearborn (1965s) in a study of the food of Weddell Seals at McMurdo
Sound recorded three large specimens identified as Dissostichus mawsoni
(the largest weighing 26.3 kg) as having been taken from seals, Wohlschlag (1968) in a semi-popular account, commented that many specimens had been captured in seal holes a t McMurdo Sound (including one
53 in long), and gave a figure of 429 mg/h at resting conditions for oxygen consumption of a live specimen! It was left, however, for two New
Zealand geophysicists, Calhaem and Christoffel (1969) to give an
account of the technique used by Weddell Seals to capture specimens of
this fish, and to publish photographs of the seals carrying fish, and
even good photographs of the fish itself, in a scientific journal. The
largest specimen measured by them (and now preserved in the Dominion
Museum, Wellington), was 147 cm in length and weighed 30 kg. The
two authors recorded the behaviour of a particular Weddell Seal in
bringing specimens of Dissostichus (ranging in size from about 15 to
651b) to the surface, and first holding the fish’s head out of water
before eating it below the surface.
3. White-blooded fishes
The peculiar lack of haemoglobin in the blood of members of the
family Chaenichthyidae has occasioned a great deal of scientific interest
since the phenomenon was reported by Nybelin (1947) and brought
more forcibly to attention by Ruud (1954). Confirmation of the possibility that all fishes belonging to this family might show the same
characteristics was quickly obtained through the research of the
Russian biologists, Andriashev and Tokarev (1958) and Barsukov and
Permitin (1958). Andriashev and Tokarev (1958) and Ruud (1958)
demonstrated that the condition could be checked in preserved specimens. It now appears that the lack of haemoglobin and the virtual
absence of erythrocytes is a family characteristic.
Martsinkevitch (1958, 1961) demonstrated that cells similar to
erythrocytes occurred in the blood vessels of internal organs, but these
were so rare they could hardly be functional in oxygen exchange.
Walvig (1958) examined blood and parenchymal cells in the spleen
of Chaemocephalus, and (1960) looked at the integument as a possible
area of oxygen exchange.
The respiratory rate for one of the Chaenichthidae, Chaenocephalus
aceratus (Lonnberg) from off the South Orkneys proved to be strictly
comparable to that for three members of the genus ~ o t o t h e ~ i ~
(Ralph
and Everson, 1968). Oxygen appears to be transported in the blood
stream in physical solution. It had been believed that oxygen exchange
might take place largely through the skin, or through the extensive gill
R. K. DELL
Dearborn (1965s) in a study of the food of Weddell Seals at McMurdo
Sound recorded three large specimens identified as Dissostichus mawsoni
(the largest weighing 26.3 kg) as having been taken from seals, Wohlschlag (1968) in a semi-popular account, commented that many specimens had been captured in seal holes a t McMurdo Sound (including one
53 in long), and gave a figure of 429 mg/h at resting conditions for oxygen consumption of a live specimen! It was left, however, for two New
Zealand geophysicists, Calhaem and Christoffel (1969) to give an
account of the technique used by Weddell Seals to capture specimens of
this fish, and to publish photographs of the seals carrying fish, and
even good photographs of the fish itself, in a scientific journal. The
largest specimen measured by them (and now preserved in the Dominion
Museum, Wellington), was 147 cm in length and weighed 30 kg. The
two authors recorded the behaviour of a particular Weddell Seal in
bringing specimens of Dissostichus (ranging in size from about 15 to
651b) to the surface, and first holding the fish’s head out of water
before eating it below the surface.
3. White-blooded fishes
The peculiar lack of haemoglobin in the blood of members of the
family Chaenichthyidae has occasioned a great deal of scientific interest
since the phenomenon was reported by Nybelin (1947) and brought
more forcibly to attention by Ruud (1954). Confirmation of the possibility that all fishes belonging to this family might show the same
characteristics was quickly obtained through the research of the
Russian biologists, Andriashev and Tokarev (1958) and Barsukov and
Permitin (1958). Andriashev and Tokarev (1958) and Ruud (1958)
demonstrated that the condition could be checked in preserved specimens. It now appears that the lack of haemoglobin and the virtual
absence of erythrocytes is a family characteristic.
Martsinkevitch (1958, 1961) demonstrated that cells similar to
erythrocytes occurred in the blood vessels of internal organs, but these
were so rare they could hardly be functional in oxygen exchange.
Walvig (1958) examined blood and parenchymal cells in the spleen
of Chaemocephalus, and (1960) looked at the integument as a possible
area of oxygen exchange.
The respiratory rate for one of the Chaenichthidae, Chaenocephalus
aceratus (Lonnberg) from off the South Orkneys proved to be strictly
comparable to that for three members of the genus ~ o t o t h e ~ i ~
(Ralph
and Everson, 1968). Oxygen appears to be transported in the blood
stream in physical solution. It had been believed that oxygen exchange
might take place largely through the skin, or through the extensive gill