The Function of Respiratory Pigments of Certain Turtle Parasites

Von Brand (1938) discusses in some detail most of the previous work in the field of the respiration of parasitic worms, in an attempt to answer the question whether helminths in the intestines of vertebrates lead an aerobic or anaerobic Because of the low oxygen tensions observed in the vertebrate alimentary canal (Tappeiner 1883, Long and Fenger 1917, von Brand and Weise 1932), the worms were considered to have anaerobic metabolism. Anaerobic respiration is known to occur in all of the parasitic worms which have been tested (Wardle 1937a, von Brand 1937b, Stannard, McCoy and Latchford 1938, and many earlier works). Likewise aerobic respiration has been shown to exist. Von Brand (1938) concludes that, large helminths, like Ascaris or Moniezia, gain their energy predominantly by fermentation [of glycogen] during their life in the intestine, but that small parasites like sheep nematodes, may lead there a more aerobic life.