Sea turtles dive with a full lung of air and these O₂ stores are supplemented by O₂ stored in blood and muscle.  Olive ridley sea turtles exhibit polymorphic nesting behavior; mass nesting behavior called arribada, where up to 25,000 turtles will nest at once, and solitary nesting behavior. The potential physiological differences between the individuals using these strategies are not well understood. We measured blood volume and associated variables, including blood hemoglobin content and hematocrit, to estimate total blood O₂ stores. There were no significant differences in mean values between nesting strategies, but arribada nesting individuals were more variable than those performing solitary nesting. Mass specific plasma volume was relatively invariant among individuals but mass specific blood volume and blood oxygen stores varied widely, 2-fold and 3-fold, respectively.  Blood O₂ stores represented 32% of total body O₂ stores. Under typical mean diving conditions of 26°C and high levels of activity, blood stores confer ~14 min to aerobic dive times and are likely critical for the long duration, deep diving exhibited by the species. Individual differences in blood O₂ stores strongly impact estimated aerobic dive limits and may constrain the ability of individuals to respond to changes on ocean climate.

Blood volume was measured from evan's blue dilution and hematologies in solitary and arribada nesting olive ridley sea turtles. Corticosterone, glucose and lactate were measured in the associated samples. 

S= solitary, A = arribada, BV = blood volume, Hb = hemoglobin, Cort= corticosterone