Oxygen bottle of snakes

1996/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia

In the tropical waters of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean there are about fifty species of snakes. To breathe they have to come to the surface of the water, but they also descend to thirty meters deep in search of food. They only have a lung to breathe, but in a way they have a “bottle of oxygen” or sac that covers three quarters of the body, that is, a reservoir of air.

It is found as an extension of the lung with thick and robust walls. It works as an oxygen pump and injects air as needed. Thus, snakes can remain submerged for at least two hours, but some researchers claim they can stay up to eight hours.