On the Relationship between P50 and the Mode of Gas Exchange in Tropical Crustaceans

Abstract

In general, the oxygen affinity of hemocyanin does not decrease when tropical decapod crustaceans carryon gas exchange in air instead of water. Other oxygenation properties such as cooperativity and the Bohr shift also change very little, if at all. The generalization of a higher oxygen affinity in tropical than in temperate zone species appears to be true but has exceptions of unclear origins, emphasizing the crudity of correlations between respiratory properties of the blood and gross features of the environment.