Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

Image Rendering Techniques in Postmortem Computed Tomography: Evaluation of Biological Health and Profile in Stranded Cetaceans
Published on: September 27, 2020
On how whales avoid decompression sickness and why they sometimes strand
Arnoldus Schytte Blix1, Lars Walløe, Edward B Messelt
1Department of Arctic Biology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway and St Catharine's College, Cambridge CB2 1RL, UK. asb000@uit.no
Abstract:
Whales are unique in that the supply of blood to the brain is not by the internal carotid arteries, but by way of thoracic and intra-vertebral arterial retia. We found in the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) that these retia split up into smaller anastomosing vessels and thin-walled sinusoid structures that are embedded in fat. The solubility of nitrogen is at least six times larger in fat than in water, and we suggest that nitrogen in supersaturated blood will be absorbed in the fat, by diffusion, during the very slow passage of the blood through the arterial retia. Formation of nitrogen bubbles that may reach the brain is thereby avoided. We also suggest that mass stranding of whales may be due to disturbances to their normal dive profiles, resulting in extra release of nitrogen that may overburden the nitrogen 'trap' and allow bubbles to reach the brain and cause abnormal behavior.
Related Concept Videos
Osmoregulation in Fishes
Buoyancy and Stability for Submerged and Floating Bodies
Breathing
Diversity of Protists III
Buoyancy
To get...
Density and Archimedes' Principle