Free diving

Abstract: Although the consumption of myoglobin-bound O2 (MbO2) stores in seal muscles has been demonstrated in seal muscles during laboratory simulations of diving, this may not be a feature of normal field diving in which measurements of heart rate and lactate production show marked differences from the profound diving response induced by forced immersion. To evaluate the consumption of muscle MbO2 stores during unrestrained diving, we developed a submersible dual-wavelength laser near-infrared spectrophotometer capable of measuring MbO2 saturation in swimming muscle. The probe was implanted on the surface of the latissimus dorsi of five subadult male Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddelli) released into a captive breathing hole near Ross Island, Antarctica. Four seals had a monotonic decline of muscle O2 saturation during free diving to depths up to 300 m with median slopes of -5.12 +/- 4.37 and -2.54 +/- 1.95%/min for dives lasting 17 min, respectively. There was no correlation between the power consumed by swimming and the desaturation rate. Two seals had occasional partial muscle resaturations late in dives, indicating transfer of O2 from circulating blood to muscle myoglobin. Weddell seals partially consume their MbO2 stores during unrestrained free diving.

Abstract: When aquatic reptiles, birds and mammals submerge, they typically exhibit a dive response in which breathing ceases, heart rate slows, and blood flow to peripheral tissues is reduced. The profound dive response that occurs during forced submergence sequesters blood oxygen for the brain and heart while allowing peripheral tissues to become anaerobic, thus protecting the animal from immediate asphyxiation. However, the decrease in peripheral blood flow is in direct conflict with the exercise response necessary for supporting muscle metabolism during submerged swimming. In free diving animals, a dive response still occurs, but it is less intense than during forced submergence, and whole-body metabolism remains aerobic. If blood oxygen is not sequestered for brain and heart metabolism during normal diving, then what is the purpose of the dive response? Here, we show that its primary role may be to regulate the degree of hypoxia in skeletal muscle so that blood and muscle oxygen stores can be efficiently used. Paradoxically, the muscles of diving vertebrates must become hypoxic to maximize aerobic dive duration. At the same time, morphological and enzymatic adaptations enhance intracellular oxygen diffusion at low partial pressures of oxygen. Optimizing the use of blood and muscle oxygen stores allows aquatic, air-breathing vertebrates to exercise for prolonged periods while holding their breath.

Abstract: This Review focuses on the original papers that have made a difference to our thinking and were first in describing an adaptation to diving, and less on those that later repeated the findings with better equipment. It describes some important anatomical peculiarities of phocid seals, as well as their many physiological responses to diving. In so doing, it is argued that the persistent discussions on the relevance and differences between responses seen in forced dives in the laboratory and those during free diving in the wild are futile. In fact, both are two sides of the same coin, aimed at protecting the body against asphyxic insult and extending diving performance.

Abstract: In restrained redhead ducks, forced submergence caused heart rate to fall from 100 +/− 3 beats min-1 (mean +/− S.E.M., N = 12) to a stable underwater rate of 35 +/− 4 beats min-1 (N = 12) within 5 s after submergence. Bradycardia was unaffected by breathing oxygen before a dive, but was virtually eliminated by local anaesthesia of the narial region. In contrast, in a dabbling duck (Anas platyrhynchos) bradycardia in short dives was eliminated by breathing oxygen before a dive. In unrestrained diving, on a man-made pond, heart rate in redheads diving voluntarily (y) was related to pre-dive heart rate (x) by the equation y = 76 + 0.29 +/− 0.05x +/− 17 (r2 = 0.71). Chasing, to induce submergence, had variable effects on this relationship. Local anaesthesia of the narial region inhibited voluntary diving but heart rates in chase-induced dives after nasal blockade were significantly higher, by 10–30%, than those obtained from untreated ducks in chase-induced dives. Breathing oxygen before voluntary dives had no apparent effect on heart rate after 2–5 s submergence. Voluntary head submersion by dabbling ducks caused no change in heart rate. We conclude that nasal receptors make only a minor contribution to cardiac responses in unrestrained dives, compared with forced dives, in diving ducks. Furthermore, these results show that little can be learned about cardiac responses in free diving ducks from studies of forced dives in dabblers or divers.