Investigating Permeability Using Fish Gills

Optimal lamellar arrangement in fish gills.

Fish respire through gills, which have evolved to extract aqueous oxygen. Fish gills consist of filaments with well-ordered lamellar structures, which play a role in maximizing oxygen diffusion. It is interesting that when we anatomically observe the gills of various fish species, gill interlamellar distances (d) vary little among them, despite large variations in body mass (Mb). Noting that th...

Urea and water permeability in dogfish (Squalus acanthias) gills.

We used a perfused gill preparation from dogfish to investigate the origin of low branchial permeability to urea. Urea permeability (14C-urea) was measured simultaneously with diffusional water permeability (3H2O). Permeability coefficients for urea and ammonia in the perfused preparation were almost identical to in vivo values. The permeability coefficient of urea was 0.032 x 10(-6) cm/sec and...

A first look at how fish gills work.

Forty-two years ago Lyndon B. Johnson was US President, a first class postage stamp cost 5cents, the first ‘Star Trek’ episode was broadcast and England defeated West Germany in the Soccer World Cup. Major changes were in the wind. The Beatles recorded ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘Good Day Sunshine’, marking the beginning of their metamorphosis. The War in Indochina intensified, wit...

Investigating Microbial Communities in Salt Marsh Sediments Using Card-fish

The dimensions of fish gills in relation to their function.

It is known from the extensive measurements of Gray (1954) that the gills of marine fishes of the Atlantic Coast of North America show a wide variation in the extent of their gill area. This is true whether the area is based on the unit of body surface area or on a unit of body weight. Little data are available, however, for fishes from European waters (Byczkowska-Smyk,* 1957, 1958, 1959)The pr...