On the buoyancy of some deep-sea sharks

1969 ◽  
Vol 171 (1025) ◽  
pp. 415-429 ◽  

Fish of five species of deep-sea squaloids ( Centrophorus squamosus, Centroscymnus coelolepis, Dalaticis licha, Deania calcea and Etmopterus princeps ) and one-deep sea holocephalan ( Hydrolagus affinis ) were all found to float when brought to the surface and placed in surface or laboratory sea water. However, by taking account of the effects of salinity, temperature and pressure differences between this seawater and that in which the animals lived, it is shown that all these animals must have been very close to neutral buoyancy at the bottom of the sea. Every one of these fish had an enormous oily liver and the lift which this gave almost exactly compensated for the weight in sea water of the rest of the animal. These livers contained large amomits of the hydrocarbon squalene which is not a convenient material to have as a metabolic reserve but which, with its low specific gravity (0.86), is particularly suited to give lift, being 80 % more effective per unit weight for this purpose than cod-liver oil. It is calculated that because of this unusual oil such fish not only obtain the lift needed for neutral buoyancy more economically in terms of the weight of oil required, but also in terms of the metabolic energy which has to be used to provide the oil-store responsible for buoyancy. It is argued that these fish must carefully regulate the oil content of their livers so as always to balance exactly the weight in sea water of their other tissues. The mechanism whereby they do this is not known.

2004 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 1231-1233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Kallmeyer ◽  
Antje Boetius

ABSTRACT Rates of sulfate reduction (SR) and anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in hydrothermal deep-sea sediments from Guaymas Basin were measured at temperatures of 5 to 200°C and pressures of 1 × 105, 2.2 × 107, and 4.5 × 107 Pa. A maximum SR of several micromoles per cubic centimeter per day was found at between 60 and 95°C and 2.2 × 107 and 4.5 × 107 Pa. Maximal AOM was observed at 35 to 90°C but generally accounted for less than 5% of SR.


2013 ◽  
Vol 842 ◽  
pp. 530-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeng Meng Zhang ◽  
Yong Jun Gong ◽  
Jiao Yi Hou ◽  
Han Peng Wu

The water hydraulic reciprocating plunger pump driven by linear motor is suitable to deep sea application with high efficiency and variable control. Aiming to study the principle structure and working characteristics of the pump, two patterns of valve and piston distribution were designed. And the control method and the performance were analyzed by simulation based on the AMESim model. The results show that the pressure and flow pulsation of piston type pump are much smaller than the valve type, even though the piston type is large in scale and works at low flow rate. Compared with a valve distribution tri-linear-motor reciprocating plunger pump (VDTLMP), as the flow rate of the piston distribution double linear motor reciprocating plunger pump (PDDLMP) is decreased from 36.7 L/min to 21.2 L/min theoretically, the pressure pulsation amplitude is decreased from 46% to 2%, and the flow pulsation rate is also decreased from 0.266 to 0.007. These results contribute to the research on deep-sea water hydraulic power pack and direct drive pump with high efficiency and energy conservation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 336-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miho Hirai ◽  
Shinro Nishi ◽  
Miwako Tsuda ◽  
Michinari Sunamura ◽  
Yoshihiro Takaki ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 932-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiliang Lai ◽  
Xiupian Liu ◽  
Jun Yuan ◽  
Shuchen Xie ◽  
Zongze Shao

A taxonomic study was carried out on strain CIC4N-9T, which was isolated from deep-sea water of the Indian Ocean. The bacterium was Gram-stain-negative, catalase- and oxidase-positive, rod-shaped and non-motile. Growth was observed at salinities of 0–9% and at temperatures of 4–41 °C. The isolate was able to degrade gelatin but not aesculin. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain CIC4N-9T belonged to the genus Pararhodobacter , with the highest sequence similarity to the only recognized species, Pararhodobacter aggregans D1-19T (96.9 %). The average nucleotide identity and estimated DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain CIC4N-9T and P. aggregans D1-19T were 80.4 and 23.0 %, respectively. The principal fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω7c and/or C18 : 1 ω6c), C16 : 0, C18 : 1ω7c 11-methyl, C18 : 0 and C17 : 0. The G+C content of the chromosomal DNA was 66.8 mol%. The sole respiratory quinone was determined to be Q-10. Phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, two unknown phospholipids, four unknown aminolipids and one unknown polar lipid were present. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data show that strain CIC4N-9T represents a novel species within the genus Pararhodobacter , for which the name Pararhodobacter marinus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CIC4N-9T (=MCCC 1A01225T=KCTC 52336T).


Author(s):  
M. R. Clarke ◽  
E. J. Denton ◽  
J. B. Gilpin-Brown

Squids (teuthoids) fall into two distinct groups according to their density in sea water. Squids of one group are considerably denser than sea water and must swim to stop sinking; squids in the other group are nearly neutrally buoyant. Analyses show that in almost all the neutrally buoyant squids large amounts of ammonium are present. This ammonium is not uniformly distributed throughout the body but is mostly confined to special tissues where its concentration can approach half molar. The locations of such tissues differ according to the species and developmental stage of the squid. It is clear that the ammonium-rich solution are almost isosmotic with sea water but of lower density and they are present in sufficient volume to provide the main buoyancy mechanism of these squids. A variety of evidence is given which suggests that squids in no less than 12 of the 26 families achieve near-neutral buoyancy in this way and that 14 families contain squids appreciably denser than sea water [at least one family contains both types of squid]. Some of the ammonium-rich squids are extremely abundant in the oceans.


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