Extracellular acid–base regulation during short-term hypercapnia is effective in a shallow-water crab, but ineffective in a deep-sea crab

Experiments with deep-sea and shallow-water crab species from the U.S. west coast indicated that deep-sea animals, which are adapted to a stable environment and have reduced metabolic rates, lack the short-term acid–base regulatory capacity to cope with the sudden, large increases in carbon dioxide that would occur if carbon dioxide emissions were sequestered in the deep sea. Additionally, the data indicate that carbon dioxide sequestration in oxygen-poor areas of the ocean would be even more detrimental to deep-sea animals. (Laboratory study)