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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 ...
When underwater, the animal is essentially holding its breath and has to routinely return to the surface to breathe in new air. Therefore, all amniote animals, even those that spend more time in water than out, are susceptible to drowning if they cannot reach the surface to breath.
Gills or gill-like organs, located in different parts of the body, are found in various groups of aquatic animals, including mollusks, crustaceans, insects, fish, and amphibians. Semiterrestrial marine animals such as crabs and mudskippers have gill chambers in which they store water, enabling them to use the dissolved oxygen when they are on land.
Certain amphibious fish also evolved to breathe air to survive oxygen-deprived waters, such as lungfishes, mudskippers, labyrinth fishes, bichirs, arapaima and walking catfish. Their abilities to breathe atmospheric oxygen are achieved via skin-breathing, enteral respiration , or specialized gill organs such as the labyrinth organ and even ...
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.
Fish typically breathe by extracting oxygen from water through gills and have a skin protected by scales and mucous. They use fins to propel and stabilise themselves in the water, and usually have a two-chambered heart and eyes well adapted to seeing underwater, as well as other sensory systems .
Native to south-east Asia, this fish has strong spines on its pectoral fins that enable its body to "walk" across dry land. It travels from waterhole to waterhole, where it seeks refuge and makes ...
The majority of marine gastropods breathe through a single gill, supplied with oxygen by a current of water through the mantle cavity. This current is U-shaped, so that it also flushes waste products away from the anus , which is located above the animal's head, and would otherwise cause a problem with fouling.