Relations Between Gill Structure and Activity in Fish

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
From well over 200 papers quantitative data concerning gill structure, oxygen consumption and activity in fish were compilated. These data were corrected, whenever necessary, for a body weight of 200 g and a surrounding temperature of 20° C, which enabled us to compare various species. The standard metabolism (expressed as the standard-oxygen-uptake) appeared to be a fairly good quantitative measure for the general activity of a fish species and was used as such. Comparing a series of species increasing in activity (in regard with behaviour), one finds that oxygen consumption does rise more slowly than the quotient of gill surface and membrane thickness. According to FICK'S law, this is due to the fact that under standard conditions in active fishes a considerably lower difference is maintained between the oxygen in the water and that in the blood than in slow-moving fishes. Partially this may be due to the greater resistance of the gills of active fishes, partially to the way of breathing of the very active species (ram- ventilation). In the hypothetical standard fish of 200 g, the gill surface and the thickness of the gill membrane appeared to be linear inversely proportional. Probably the gill membrane must have a minimum thickness in order to be equal to the defence against noxious particles, while the density of the secondary lamellae is limited by the membrane thickness.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: