TITLE:

I.

The Effect Of Oxygen Reduction On Goldfish

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND HYPOTHESIS:

We wanted to do a scientific research project on what would happen to a gold fish's breathing rate in water that has depleted dissolved oxygen. Our hypothesis states that the goldfish's breathing rate will increase when it is in water with a low amount of dissolved oxygen. II. METHODOLOGY:

First, we picked our topic and wrote our statement of purpose. Second, we reviewed the literature on fish, oxygen, and fish habits. Next, we developed our hypothesis. Forth, we wrote our methodology and made our list of materials. Next, we constructed a data collection form. We then began our experiment. We conducted our experiment by placing a healthy goldfish into a low oxygen water environment. We boiled the water to lower the dissolved oxygen level. Then we cooled the water to room temperature. We then counted how many times the fish pushed water over its gills. We did this for one minute. With the same fish, we put it in the normal oxygenated water at room temperature, and did the same for a minute. After that, we repeated the entire testing procedure with two other fish. Next, we combined our data and wrote our analysis of data. Then we applied our findings to the world outside the classroom, wrote our abstract, and published our report. III. ANALYSIS OF DATA:

In the three trials with oxygenated water, fish number 1 pushed water through its gills 60, 70, and 65 times. The average number of breaths per minute with oxygenated water for fish number 1 was 65. Fish number two pushed water through it gills 87, 58, and 43 times. The average number of breaths per minute with oxygenated water for fish number 2 was 62.6. The overall average for both fish in oxygenated water was 63.8. For the non-oxygenated water, fish number 1 had 92, 96, and 114 breaths in three trials. The average number of breaths per minute for fish number 1 was 100 breathes. In the trials for fish number 2, it pushed water through its gills 102, 119, and 106 times. Fish number 2 had an average of 109 breaths per minute. The overall average for non-oxygenated water was 104. IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION:

We found out that, for oxygenated water, there was an average of 63.8 breaths per minute. For the non-oxygenated water, there was an average of 104.5 breaths per minute. The fish that were in the non-oxygenated water took more breaths. Therefore, we accept our hypothesis which stated that healthy goldfish would breathe more in non-oxygenated water than in

oxygenated water. V. APPLICATION:

We can apply our information to the real world by telling government agencies to set aside more money to research the affects of pollution on the habitat of animals. Pollution can significantly reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in water. Pollution affects underwater animals and their habitat, so we can try to control the amount of pollution these waters contain or the animals will suffer ill affects.