Some aspects of the respiration of six species of fish from Uganda

Abstract

The fish were collected from gillnets or seine nets and usually taken alive to thebiological laboratory at Makerere College. Here blood samples were taken which, ifnot used immediately, were stored below 0 0 C. In some cases the fish were bledwhen they were caught and the blood stored in a vacuum flask containing an ice-salt .mixture. The blood was collected from an afferent vessel in the gill arch or from thecaudal artery. In the case of Clarias and Protopterus, the blood was taken from the ventricle of the heart. Specimen tubes of 1 or 5 mi. capacity were cleansed and,before sterilization by dry heat, suitable quantities of Wintrobe's solution (an anticoagulant containing oxalate)were added.The blood from the fish flowed directly into these tubes and, when the required quantity had been collected, the tube was stoppered, shaken vigorously to dissolve the oxalate crystals and stored. Any tubes in which the blood had clotted were discarded.