Abstract
BUOYANCY equilibrium, or being of the same density as sea water, can confer a great economy of effort upon free-swimming animals and is approached or achieved in a variety of ways. While investigating buoyancy problems during a cruise of the Plymouth laboratory's research vessel Sarsia in the southern Bay of Biscay we found a particularly striking adaption in certain mid-water squid. Although some of the oceanic species resembled the coastal forms in being denser than sea water, the majority of the mid-water forms caught were in buoyancy equilibrium. Having neither cuttle-bone nor air sac they must have some other component less dense than sea-water (density = 1.026) to counterbalance the tendency of their proteins to sink.
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DENTON, E., SHAW, T. & GILPIN-BROWN, J. Bathyscaphoid Squid. Nature 182, 1810–1811 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/1821810b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1821810b0
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