Does it all come down to lung size? Or does it vary based on phylum, and if so why?
In: Biology
There are a lot of factors that go into it, but everything comes down to making sure that they use as little oxygen as possible and store as much as they can before they dive. One way deep diving animals can be super efficient with oxygen is by putting a lot of a protein called myoglobin in their muscles, which is like an oxygen sponge and can store a lot of oxygen. Furthermore, many have less mitochondria in their cells. Mitochondria use up your oxygen when you’re making energy, so they end up using less oxygen by having fewer mitochondria. Additionally, a lot more of their body is blubber compared to other animals. Since blubber uses very little oxygen, there’s more oxygen to go around to places that really need it, like the brain. Etc etc yada yada more adaptations yada yada nature and evolution are cool.
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