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The result is that countercurrent exchange can achieve a greater amount of heat or mass transfer than parallel under otherwise similar conditions. Countercurrent exchange when set up in a circuit or loop can be used for building up concentrations, heat, or other properties of flowing liquids.
Most fish exchange gases using gills on either side of the pharynx (throat). Gills are tissues which consist of threadlike structures called filaments.These filaments have many functions and "are involved in ion and water transfer as well as oxygen, carbon dioxide, acid and ammonia exchange.
Fish exchange gases by pulling oxygen-rich water through their mouths and pumping it over their gills. Within the gill filaments, capillary blood flows in the opposite direction to the water, causing counter-current exchange. The gills push the oxygen-poor water out through openings in the sides of the pharynx.
Most species employ a countercurrent exchange system to enhance the diffusion of substances in and out of the gill, with blood and water flowing in opposite directions to each other. The gills are composed of comb-like filaments, the gill lamellae, which help increase their surface area for oxygen exchange. [5]
In fish, gill lamellae are used to increase the surface area in contact with the environment to maximize gas exchange (both to attain oxygen and to expel carbon dioxide) between the water and the blood. [3] In fish gills, there are two types of lamellae, primary and secondary. The primary gill lamellae (also called gill filament) extends from ...
Aquatic arthropods generally possess some form of gills in which gas exchange takes place by diffusing through the exoskeleton. Others may breathe atmospheric air while remaining submerged, via breathing tubes or trapped air bubbles, though some aquatic insects may remain submerged indefinitely and respire using a plastron .
A live individual of Pleurobranchaea meckelii; the ctenidium is visible as a feather-like structure in this view of the right-hand side of the animal. A ctenidium is a respiratory organ or gill which is found in many molluscs.
A comparison between the operations and effects of a cocurrent and a countercurrent flow exchange system is depicted by the upper and lower diagrams respectively. In both, it is assumed that red has a higher value (e.g. of temperature or the partial pressure of a gas) than blue and that the property being transported in the channels, therefore ...