Abstract
IN well-aerated waters Daphnia is pale, whereas in waters deficient in dissolved oxygen it is pink or red. The depth of colour is proportional to the oxygen deficit1,2. The colour is due to hæmoglobin in the blood, and when the animals are transferred from well-aerated to poorly aerated water or vice versa, the resulting synthesis or loss of hæmoglobin is very considerable and remarkably rapid. In a week a pale population can become red. The phenomenon is comparable with the increase in the hæmoglobin content of the blood of human beings exposed to the lower oxygen pressure of a high altitude. This increase is functional and it might be expected that the increase in the respiratory pigment of Daphnia would also be of value to the animals.
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References
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FOX, H., GILCHRIST, B. & PHEAR, E. Functions of Hæmoglobin in Daphnia. Nature 166, 609–610 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/166609a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/166609a0
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