Fish Respiration: Countercurrent

exchange
Florece, Christine Marie C.
GILLS

Gills
-main site of gas exchange in almost all fishes

-consists of bony or stiffened arches (cartilage)
that anchor pairs of gill filaments
Bony Fish
Sharks and Rays
Sharks have 5-7 pairs
of gill slits located on
the sides of their heads.

Gills of rays are organs
located on either side of
the head or just below
the mouth.

Gill Structure
Parts and Functions
Gill rakers
-appendages along the front edge of the gill
arch
-help make sure that no extraneous
material gets into the gill filaments to clog them
up

Gill arches
- the actual bones or cartilage that support
a particular gill
-have arteries inside them that contain
blood low in oxygen, these arteries branch into
smaller arterioles that run inside the filaments
Gill Filaments
-hair-like structures on the gills which
absorb the oxygen from the lamellae
-contain a capillary network that provides a
large surface area for exchanging oxygen and
carbon dioxide



Lamellae
-are very small, and they have very thin
surface for gases to diffuse through the capillary
network, so oxygen can be circulated around the
body to cells


Numerous lamellae protrude
from both sides of each filament
and are the primary sites of gas
exchange.

Video
Countercurrent Exchange
This system moves water flowing across the
gills, in an opposite direction to the blood flow
creating the maximum efficiency of gas
exchange.

This means that the blood flows along the
vessels in the lamellae in the opposite direction
to which the water is passing on the outside of
the lamellae.
-this method of change is
capable of moving half of the
oxygen content of the water to
the blood
-it will diffuse large amounts of
oxygen
Countercurrent Exchange
Water and blood flow in opposite direction
Water has more oxygen content than the blood,
so oxygen diffuses to the blood

Capillaries within each lamella (gill filaments)
picks up oxygen to the blood and gives off
carbon dioxide and metabolic wastes like
Ammonia

This maximizes the concentration gradient and
speeds up diffusion

removes almost all of the oxygen (80-90%) from
the water that passes over the gills and then
transfers it to the blood (co-current exchange-
only 50%)

The concentration of oxygen gained from this
system would meet the physiological needs of
the fish
Thank you.
Retrieved from:
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/20
8456/fish/63637/The-respiratory-system
http://www.kwic.com/~pagodavista/schoolhouse/
species/fish/fishgill.htm
http://www.earthlife.net/fish/gills.html
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/biology/gas-
exchange/revise-it/gas-exchange-in-fish
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/0
9/how-fish-gills-work/
Video from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEIRlw5rCU
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