Bizzare turtle question

[Mako Mark]

on another thread, someone said this:

Turtles can breathe through their butts.

I reckon that he is talking through his...

are there any turtle experts out there that can confirm or deny this??

.

 

[SubMariner]

on another thread, someone said this:

Quote:
Turtles can breathe through their butts.

I reckon that he is talking through his...

are there any turtle experts out there that can confirm or deny this??

First of all, I'd like a link to the original post so we can see the context in which this statement was made.

And no, they breath through their mouths & nostrils.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=857954#post857954

 

[SubMariner]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=857954#post857954

Oh yeah, a VERY reliable source.... not!

 

[MarkH]

on another thread, someone said this:


I reckon that he is talking through his...

are there any turtle experts out there that can confirm or deny this??

.

Why not? Amphibians can breath through their skin. Humans can breathe through their eyeballs. What is so unusual about butt-breathing? *By the way, before I have everyone calling me an idiot, by "breathing", I mean absorbing oxygen, and probably not enough to sustain life without other forms of oxygen absorbsion (lungs, gills).

 

[archman]

Sea turtles have gas exchange tissues in their rectum. It's pretty obscure, and generally not well disseminated to the public.

I don't believe a function for this thing has ever been agreed upon. It cannot substitute for air breathing, anyway. Too small.