Abstract
Sea snakes are unusual reptiles in two respects: (1) They are morphologically and physiologically specialized for marine life. (2) Most species of sea snakes occupy habitats with extremely stable temperatures, and these species probably experience less variation in body temperature during their lives than most terrestrial reptiles undergo daily. We tested two hypotheses about functional properties of the blood of sea snakes from different habitats. (1) Contrary to the prediction of our first hypothesis, the ability of sea snakes to dive for prolonged periods is not associated with unusually large blood volumes, hematocrits, or blood oxygen capacities in comparison with terrestrial snakes. We found no ontogenetic allometry in those parameters in Aipysurus laevis. (2) As predicted by our second hypothesis, sea snakes from stable thermal habitats did not exhibit short-term sensitivity of blood oxygen capacity to changing temperature. However, Laticauda colubrina, a species of sea snake that spends long perio...
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