Diving insects boost their buoyancy bubbles

Abstract

Backswimmers (Notonectidae) are common diving insects found around the world that exploit the mid-water zone for predation — they breathe by using an air bubble collected at the surface. Here we show that backswimmers achieve prolonged periods of neutral buoyancy by using oxygen stored in their haemoglobin to stabilize the volume of the bubble as they breathe from it. This enables them to maintain their position in the water column without continually swimming.