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In osteichthyes, the gills contain 4 gill arches on each side of the head, two on each side for chondrichthyes or seven gill baskets on each side of the fish's head in lampreys. In fish, the long bony cover for the gill (the operculum) can be used for pushing water. Some fish pump water using the operculum.
Fish gills are organs that allow fish to breathe underwater. Most fish exchange gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide using gills that are protected under gill covers (operculum) on both sides of the pharynx (throat). Gills are tissues that are like short threads, protein structures called filaments. These filaments have many functions including ...
The operculum can be important in adjusting the pressure of water inside of the pharynx to allow proper ventilation of the gills, so bony fish do not have to rely on ram ventilation (and hence near constant motion) to breathe. Valves inside the mouth keep the water from escaping. [9]
Turtles can rest or sleep underwater for several hours at a time, but submergence time is much shorter while diving for food or to escape predators. Breath-holding ability is affected by activity and stress, which is why turtles quickly drown in shrimp trawlers and other fishing gear. [112]
Some protists accomplish this using contractile vacuoles, while freshwater fish excrete excess water via the kidney. [4] Although most aquatic organisms have a limited ability to regulate their osmotic balance and therefore can only live within a narrow range of salinity, diadromous fish have the ability to migrate between fresh and saline ...
Fish from multiple groups can live out of the water for extended time periods. Amphibious fish such as the mudskipper can live and move about on land for up to several days, or live in stagnant or otherwise oxygen depleted water. Many such fish can breathe air via a variety of mechanisms. The skin of anguillid eels may absorb oxygen directly.
Diving reflex in a human baby. The diving reflex, also known as the diving response and mammalian diving reflex, is a set of physiological responses to immersion that overrides the basic homeostatic reflexes, and is found in all air-breathing vertebrates studied to date.
For aquatic respiration, fish respire primarily via gills but cutaneous respiration may account for 5 to 40 percent of the total respiration, depending on species and temperature. Cutaneous respiration is more important in species that breathe air, such as mudskippers and reedfish , and in such species may account for almost 50 percent of total ...