How+do+fish+breathe?


 * __HOW DO FISH BREATHE?__**

Answer the question below, append new answers to the top of this page. _ __Response 1:__ __Fish don't have any lungs but on the other hand they have gills.The water around the fish produces and amount of oxygen in order for a fish to breathe under water they need to take in this oxygen. Well thats what their gills do, they filter the water and this allows the fish to get the oxygen. If you take a fish out of water it will die from suffocation. This is because the oxygen in the air has not been filtered through its gill and thus can't breathe it in properly. But if you are talking about a pet fish such as a gold fish it uses the same method. However if you find it floating in its bowl dead this is because all of the oxygen has been used up by something else, bacteria. If you don't clean the fish bowl bacteria will grow and take all of oxygen for its self suffocating the fish. The breathing process starts by the fish open and closing it's mouth, this acts as a pump pumping back through the gills and breathing. Most fish have a good pumping system and this is called operculum. Fish that don't have as good of a pumping system are required to be constantly swimming to allow fresh oxygenated water flowing over their gills.Fish that are constantly swimming usually swim with their mouth partly open, an example of this are tuna.__
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__Connor Newman 8.4__

Citations http://wildlife.blurtit.com/q813071.html Not citied was done by anonymously http://www.essortment.com/fish-breathe-under-water-43160.html Not cited

__Response #2:__ Did you ever wonder how a well-known creature such as fish is actually able to breathe and live under water? Well, here's the answer: Fish, along with a few additional aquatic species obtain oxygen from water. The method for obtaining oxygen from water begins with the gills of the fish. Gills are made of branched capillaries that bring the fish's blood close to the oxygenated water. These capillaries have a very large surface area which allows for a lot of contact with the oxygenated water but are also quite thin. The reason for the thin capillaries is to minimize the overall area between the red blood cells within the capillaries and the oxygen within the water. This certain design for gills allows for the spreading of gas, in this case oxygen to be spread quickly and very efficiently throughout the fish's body. Carbon di oxide also exits the capillaries within the gills just like how we humans exhale carbon di oxide. Large thin gills are ideal for spreading oxygen throughout the body but are also very fragile. When in water gills are supported because they are buoyant but on land these gills collapse because of their weight. Because of this the fish begins to starve for oxygen even though oxygen can be found all around itself. Another way to understand this question is to look at it this way. Imagine a car (fish) driving on the road. A car takes oxygen through an air intake valve (capillaries). This oxygen is then taken into the car engine (fish) and so on. Without this oxygen a car is not able to run. This is just like how a fish breathes and how a fish is not able to function properly without a source of oxygen.

Anton Sheveliov 8.3

Bibliography: [] Carl D. Hopkins May, 10, 2000

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