Research group at the Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, studying the ecology and physiology of diving animals. Lead by Dr. Chris McKnight and Dr. Jo Kershaw.
SMRU Ecophysiology Lab
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Even better—remote sedative delivery allows: • Rapid sample retrieval • Reduced handling impacts on individuals
A big step forward for animal welfare and data quality 🦭✨
Why does this matter?
The ‘Mossquito’ helps us: ✔ Collect time-critical samples ✔ Capture true physiological baselines ✔ Avoid confounding effects of handling stress
Stress makes a difference too 📈
Circulating cortisol and cortisone were significantly higher in manually collected samples—likely due to disturbance and handling during capture.
What did we find?
Short-term apnoea linked to sedation rapidly altered: • Venous blood gases • Lactate • Bicarbonate • Acid–base status
Timing really matters when sampling!
Meet the ‘Mossquito’ 🦟
We used it to compare: • Blood gases • Clinical chemistry • Adrenocorticosteroid hormones
…between remotely collected samples and traditional manual sampling.
@eva-mariab.bsky.social presenting her AMAZING PhD work on the effects of blood gases on peripheral perfusion in diving grey seals at the #ECS2026 🦭🦭🦭
Paper alert 🚨🚨🚨
We’ve developed a remotely operated device for collecting blood samples and administering sedatives in freely moving seals 🦭
🔗 doi.org/10.1111/2041...
A thread 🧵👇
@seamammalresearch.bsky.social
@uniofstandrews.bsky.social
Fascinating new research led by @smruecophys.bsky.social researcher @chrismcknight.bsky.social
SMRU Ecophysiology Lab
🎉 Exciting to see this paper published using @smruinstrument.bsky.social tags to study diving behaviour and physiology of free divers! Congrats to the authors! 👏🔬📡 @smruecophys.bsky.social @chrismcknight.bsky.social
Read the paper here: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Our new publication with @strandings.bsky.social & #SMRUsealpred contributors. A first attempt at quantifying grey seal predation of marine mammals and the potential impact on declining harbour seal populatons. Check it out! doi.org/10.1111/1365...
