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Fish physiology is the scientific study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. [2] It can be contrasted with fish anatomy, which is the study of the form or morphology of fishes. In practice, fish anatomy and physiology complement each other, the former dealing with the structure of a fish, its organs or ...
Aquatic respiration. Sea slugs respire through a gill (or ctenidium) Aquatic respiration is the process whereby an aquatic organism exchanges respiratory gases with water, obtaining oxygen from oxygen dissolved in water and excreting carbon dioxide and some other metabolic waste products into the water.
Excretion. Mammals excrete urine through the urinary system. Excretion is elimination of metabolic waste, which is an essential process in all organisms. In vertebrates, this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys, and skin. [1] This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after leaving the cell.
The gills of most teleost fish help to eliminate ammonia from the body, and fish live surrounded by water, but most still have a distinct bladder for storing waste fluid. The urinary bladder of teleosts is permeable to water, though this is less true for freshwater dwelling species than saltwater species.
Marine teleosts also use their gills to excrete osmolytes (e.g. Na⁺, Cl −). The gills' large surface area tends to create a problem for fish that seek to regulate the osmolarity of their internal fluids. Seawater contains more osmolytes than the fish's internal fluids, so marine fishes naturally lose water through their gills via osmosis.
Whale feces, the excrement of whales, has a vital role in the ecology of oceans, [2] earning whales the title of "marine ecosystem engineers." This significant ecological role stems from the nutrients and compounds found in whale feces, which have far-reaching effects on marine life. Nitrogen and iron chelate released by cetacean species offer ...
Gill. The red gills of this common carp are visibly exposed as a result of a gill flap birth defect. A gill (/ ɡɪl / ⓘ) is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land ...
Changes in physiology allow it to slow its metabolism to as little as one sixtieth of the normal metabolic rate, and protein waste is converted from ammonia to less-toxic urea (normally, lungfish excrete nitrogenous waste as ammonia directly into the water). Burrowing is seen in at least one group of fossil lungfish, the Gnathorhizidae.