Queen Marika's Essays / No. 75: Natural Oxygen Tanks

Hello✨😃 This is Marika⭐️

The topic for this time was inspired by the comments section of last week's article.

Anyway, let's get started.

No. 75: Natural Oxygen Tanks

Last week, I introduced the amazing nature of crocodiles.

You can find last week's article here.

As with every week, I received many comments. Among those comments, there was one that caught my attention.

It is a comment from Nekoma Sakamoto.

Nekoma-san, thank you for your comment🙇‍♀️



Crocodiles are natural oxygen tanks...

I'm not trying to criticize someone else's expression, but there is a creature that is even more deserving of being called a 'natural oxygen tank' than a crocodile.

That would be... these guys😆

The one above is a tubifex worm, and the one below is a chironomid larva (bloodworm).

I wonder if there are few people who like them😅

More importantly, why is this creature a natural oxygen tank?

Rather than stating the conclusion right away, I will first state the notable common points between tubifex worms and midge larvae.

The notable common points are these two.

・They can live even in polluted water areas
・Their bodies are red

So~.

I will now activate the essential condition for a capable person (lol), which is to speak from the conclusion...😂

・Because they are natural oxygen tanks, they can live in polluted water areas!

・Because their bodies are red, they can become natural oxygen tanks!

What does that mean?

I think you might be confused if I just blurt out the conclusion, so I will explain it step by step.

Polluted water areas often have low levels of oxygen in the water.
Therefore, many creatures that can live in polluted water areas are those that can effectively utilize small amounts of oxygen.

That is why tubifex worms and midge larvae, which are natural oxygen tanks, can live in polluted water areas with little oxygen.

So...

Their red bodies are the proof of being natural oxygen cylinders!

What makes their bodies red is a protein called 'myoglobin'.
Myoglobin is found in abundance in tuna meat. Indeed, tuna meat is also red.

What kind of properties does such myoglobin have?

Myoglobin is a protein similar to hemoglobin, and it binds with oxygen.

However, there is a decisive difference from hemoglobin.

That is...

Myoglobin does not easily release the oxygen it has bound once.😆

Hemoglobin releases the oxygen it has bound immediately when there is little oxygen in the surroundings. That is why hemoglobin is used for transporting oxygen.

Myoglobin also releases oxygen when there is little oxygen in the surroundings, but it does not release it unless the oxygen levels become quite low.

I would like you to refer to the graph below for this as well.

So, you see.

Myoglobin is well-suited for storing oxygen.

It holds onto oxygen firmly. It keeps it until the very last moment. When the oxygen levels in the cellular tissue drop to a critical point, it finally releases the oxygen!
Thanks to this property of myoglobin, sludge worms and midge larvae can survive even in water with very little oxygen.

Sludge worms and midge larvae are more deserving of the name 'natural oxygen tank' than crocodiles are.

Do you understand the reason why I say that?

As a final side note, tuna utilize myoglobin's oxygen-holding capacity in the form of endurance.
Because they keep oxygen in their muscles, they are able to migrate over long distances😃

A tuna's muscles are like a combination of an engine and a natural oxygen tank, aren't they?

Oh, no, no.

Chemistry is fun, isn't it😵

I will conclude this time with that dubious-sounding phrase🙇‍♀️

Click here for other articles in the Essays series!