Fabien Lombard, Antoine Sciandra and Gabriel Gorsky

MEPS 301:149-158 (2005) doi:10.3354/meps301149

Influence of body mass, food concentration, temperature and filtering activity on the oxygen uptake of the appendicularian Oikopleura dioica

Using the Bergen lab strain. Culture at 15 ± 1°C. Fed with Isochrisis galbana and Thalassiosira pseudonana. Food was lyophilised for oxygen measurements, so that it does not respirate. Animals with new house and empty stomach were used in the experiments. Animals and food were placed in oxygen-saturated water, and the remaining oxygen was measured with a polaro-graphic oxygen meter at the end of the experiment. Some animals wer aesthetized with tricaine methanesulfonate (Sandoz MS-222). Animals receiving more food consume more oxygen, but also become larger. After correction for body weight, food concentration did not influence respiration. Anesthesia reduces respiration by 33%. Animals consume more oxygen at 22°C than at 15°C.