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Which of the following can respire in the total absence of air (anoxybiosis)?
A. Amoeba
B. Bed bug
C. Hydra
D. Tapeworm

seo-qna
Last updated date: 22nd Mar 2024
Total views: 390k
Views today: 3.90k
MVSAT 2024
Answer
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Hint: Some species breathe aerobically while some survive anaerobically. Oxygen is not a vital requirement of an anaerobe. They have developed other methods to survive; they have to evolve like so to catch up with their environments. They can also be primitives.

Complete answer:
Anoxybiosis is a response triggered when there is a lack of oxygen and the organism takes the water to become turgid and motile.
Let us study all the options in the question.
Option A. Amoeba: They are the eukaryotic organisms that crawl. They can change their body shape to engulf food or to excrete the waste. They are single-celled. Most of the amoeba have hydrogenosomes or mitosomes to carry out respiration like mitochondria so they live in an oxygenated atmosphere.
Option B. Bed bug: They are insects that feed on human blood. They belong to genus Cimex. They need oxygen to live. They are susceptible to low levels of oxygen. They can die in a week without it.
Option C. Hydra: It is a Cnidarian with class Hydrozoa. They have a regenerative ability. They live in the low oxygen level areas as the algae supply them oxygen. They cannot survive without oxygen.
Option D. Tapeworm: They are the parasites which live in the host’s body. They live in the human gut. They can be up to 9 metres long. They have a feature to live and survive in the host’s body by carrying out anaerobic respiration. So they can live without oxygen.

So the answer is option D: Tapeworm

Note: There are four biotic pathways- anoxybiosis (which we have studied), osmobiosis, cryobiosis and anhydrobiosis. Anhydrobiosis is when the organism survives through the dry periods as they live in such habitats. Cryobiosis is in the condition when there is reduced temperature and there is the freezing of water in the cells. Osmobiosis is the form by a decreased water potential due to more solute concentration in the surrounding solution.