#19
Most people would say that fish have the ability to breathe underwater because of their gills, and in which is true, however, have you wondered why their gills have such ability? Or how it is even possible? Or maybe even how they work?
The difference between fish and other animals is its respiratory system. In addition, they use their gills to take out oxygen from the water. This then leads to the whole breathing process, which starts with the mouth. The mouth opens and closes to force the water back through the gills to breathe.
After the water transfers through the mouth, it continues past gill rakers which is just a filter system for the gills that strains the water to separate the floating food particles or other contaminated material.
Furthermore, the gills are made of two rows of gill filaments. These filaments are very thin membranes that stick out into the water and are composed of rows upon rows of lamellae, which are thin membranes that are loaded with a capillary network. The water then flows across the lamellae, and oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged through the capillary membrane. Overall, the fish then can extract up to 85% of oxygen in the water.
After understanding the method of the fish’s ability to breathe underwater, others may wonder why humans don’t have the same opportunity. Yes, we don’t have gills, but we do have lungs and the fish’s gills are their lungs. This is because our lungs do not have enough surface area to absorb enough oxygen from the water. Therefore, the lining in out lungs is adapted to handle air rather than water.
References
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question386.htm
http://www.essortment.com/all/howdofishbrea_rlyl.htm
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#12
ReplyDeleteNicely done. Your post is well structured with an introduction paragraph, 2 body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. I also liked how you referenced your information to show where the basis of your ideas came from. Your structure is clear and easy to understand from a reader’s point of view. Your post provides many points that are good and get down to the details. In your post I like how talked about the difference in breathing systems between fish, other animals, and humans. This topic shows how magnificent and unique species can be. There are many facts in your post that interesting to know like fish can extract up to 85% of oxygen in the water and the reason humans can’t breathe under water is because they do not have enough surface area to absorb enough oxygen from the water. Now a day with pollution affecting how we breathe, is it always good that breathe? Because we breathe in toxins and chemicals all the time when we walk down the street, even animal species such as fish consume deadly chemicals in the water. For next time I would recommend adding more personal connections. Overall you have answered the question.
Excellent job!!!
#6
ReplyDeleteGood post, as mentioned before the structure is very well done, however i feel as if more information could have been posted. details seem to be a little thin and i would like to see a more in depth explanation of the process. I like how you provided facts for us as readers, also the comparison between gills and lungs was a great choice in helping to understand diversity in nature and how organisms differ. Another good idea might have been to post a link in the post directly to a picture or diagram of the breathing process of a fish, that way visual understanding can be obtained for people who learn in that way. all in all it was a good post and the points were clear and straight forward, good work.