Nicolas Séon, Isabelle Brasseur, Christopher Scala, Théo Tacail, Sidonie Catteau, François Fourel, Peggy Vincent, Christophe Lécuyer, Guillaume Suan, Sylvain Charbonnier, Arnauld Vinçon-Laugier, Romain Amiot
The secondary adaptation of Cetacea to a fully marine lifestyle raises the question of their ability to maintain their water balance in a hyperosmotic environment. Cetacea have access to four potential sources of water: surrounding salt oceanic water, dietary free water, metabolic water and inhaled water vapor to a lesser degree. Here, we measured the 18O/16O oxygen isotope ratio of blood plasma from thirteen specimens belonging to two species of Cetacea raised under human care (four killer whales Orcinus orca, nine common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus) to investigate and quantify the contribution of preformed water (dietary free water, surrounding salt oceanic water) and metabolic water to Cetacea body water using a box-modelling approach...
October 30, 2023: Journal of Experimental Biology