Haemoglobin inArtemia

Abstract

The brine shrimp,Artemia salina, gains or loses haemoglobin in its blood in response to a low or high dissolved oxygen content of the medium in which it lives. Females gain and lose the pigment more rapidly than males. In natural populationsArtemiais redder in colour in proportion to the increasing salinity of the medium. This is the result of an increase of haemoglobin in the blood in response to the decreased oxygen content of the brine. The red colour of the nauplius, and of some adults, is due to carotenoids, not to haemoglobin. Haemoglobin enablesArtemiato live longer in water deficient in dissolved oxygen. Haemoglobin functions in oxygen transport by the blood when the animals are in concentrated brines, either fully or partially saturated with air.