Intraerythrocytic organic phosphates and hemoglobins of skua - Catharacta maccormicki (Stercoraridae): at two different stages of the year in relation to Antartic migration

Catharacta maccormicki blood samples were collected in the winter (October) and in the summer (February) in order to study the intraerythrocytic organic phosphates, hemoglobin (Hb) electrophoretic patterns, oxygen blood equilibrium and stripped Hbs, as well as the effect of 2,3-biphosphoglycerate (BPG) and inositol hexaphosphate (IHP) on oxygen affinity. All the samples (five from the winter and five from the summer) showed the same electrophoretic pattern: one minor fast component and one major slow one. No differences in oxygen affinity and Bohr effect in the samples collected in the winter ...