Oxygen consumption of some Antarctic and British gastropods: An evaluation of cold adaptation

1. The oxygen consumption of four species of inshore gastropods from Signy Island, Antarctica was measured at −1.7 and +0.5°C in seawater. The limpet Nacella concinna (Strebel) showed a decrease in oxygen consumption with settlement in the respirometers, but a Trophon species showed no such settlement response over 24 hr. 2. The oxygen consumption of the Antarctic gastropods is higher than that of some temperate intertidal species both acutely exposed to 0dgC and kept at that temperature for 11 days. 3. However, the oxygen consumption of Antarctic species fall on a line relating oxygen consumption and temperature for some temperate gastropods when the measurements were made at their normal environmental temperatures.