Blood volume, corpuscular constants, and shell weight in turtles

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, San Jose State College, San Jose, California

In a group of 11 red-eared turtles, Pseudemys scripta elegans, ranging from 258 to 1827 gm, it was found that body size did not produce variations in packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, or in Wintrobe corpuscular constants derived from these values. A small inverse correlation of shell weight with body weight was noted. Blood volume, determined by cardiac injection of iodinated (I¹³¹) albumin and expressed as percentage of body weight, showed a strong inverse correlation with body weight.