Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/131726
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Type: Journal article
Title: Fur seals do, but sea lions don't - cross taxa insights into exhalation during ascent from dives
Author: Hooker, S.K.
Andrews, R.D.
Arnould, J.P.Y.
Bester, M.N.
Davis, R.W.
Insley, S.J.
Gales, N.J.
Goldsworthy, S.D.
McKnight, J.C.
Citation: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2021; 376(1830):20200219-1-20200219-11
Publisher: The Royal Society
Issue Date: 2021
ISSN: 0962-8436
1471-2970
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Sascha K. Hooker, Russel D. Andrews, John P. Y. Arnould, Marthán N. Bester, Randall W. Davis, Stephen J. Insley
Abstract: Management of gases during diving is not well understood across marine mammal species. Prior to diving, phocid (true) seals generally exhale, a behaviour thought to assist with the prevention of decompression sickness. Otariid seals (fur seals and sea lions) have a greater reliance on their lung oxygen stores, and inhale prior to diving. One otariid, the Antarctic fur seal (<i>Arctocephalus gazella</i>), then exhales during the final 50-85% of the return to the surface, which may prevent another gas management issue: shallow-water blackout. Here, we compare data collected from animal-attached tags (video cameras, hydrophones and conductivity sensors) deployed on a suite of otariid seal species to examine the ubiquity of ascent exhalations for this group. We find evidence for ascent exhalations across four fur seal species, but that such exhalations are absent for three sea lion species. Fur seals and sea lions are no longer genetically separated into distinct subfamilies, but are morphologically distinguished by the thick underfur layer of fur seals. Together with their smaller size and energetic dives, we suggest their air-filled fur might underlie the need to perform these exhalations, although whether to reduce buoyancy and ascent speed, for the avoidance of shallow-water blackout or to prevent other cardiovascular management issues in their diving remains unclear. This article is part of the theme issue 'Measuring physiology in free-living animals (Part I)'.
Keywords: diving physiology
gas management
otariid
shallow-water blackout
Rights: © 2021 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0219
Grant ID: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP110102065
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0219
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 8
Environment Institute publications

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