How do sharks breathe?
Sharks don't have lungs, but they do have to breathe oxygen to survive. Instead of breathing air, though, sharks get oxygen from the water that surrounds them. The concentration of oxygen in water is much lower than in air, so animals like sharks have developed ways to harvest as much oxygen as they can. The breathing process for sharks begins and ends with their gills, which they use to both extract oxygen from water and rid their bodies of carbon dioxide.
Most sharks get water to flow over their gills by swimming and moving through water, while some sharks will hold water in their cheeks and pump it over their gills - allowing them to breathe while resting on the ocean bottom.
More Info:
www.lung.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
29 Comments
Kevin Dale Streets
They ARE fish, aren't they? Of course they would breathe through gills!
bettye
Captain Bob III, they swim with their mouths open to scoop up any food in their path.
David Erwin
Very poor question
Dan Drinkall
Rethinking the given answer Through their Gills... well, we breathe through our lungs, don't we ? I went with Gills.
Dan Drinkall
Breathing involves more than merely Inhaling then Exhaling. There's likely a 12 lettered medical word for the actual absorption of the oxygen by the air sac/gill; but I'd think that is where breathing is the result of the in/out of the air/water. Though, without an open mouth, could a Shark be a 'Nose Breather' too?
dsneed
tesla alset,
Oh you doll you. Keep up the good work. Dianne
dsneed
I know that. Yay me.
larrywagner
Wow new achievement, king of tests.
Janice Lea Vanlandingham
And there is only one place in the world that the oxygen content is high enough to allow them to 'sleep' (no movement) Otherwise they must move to live.
Chris Hall
Through the mouth then the gills
Tony Zoars
Sharks can only live through motion, A shark that is not moving is dead because they must swim in order to move the water across their gills. Actually a poor question.
Annie
I find this “breathing “ process fascinating!
Dave Street
I wonder how many of those sitting in judgement of this question have actually had the balls to post their own questions.
Sam Campos
Baby shark do do do do do do ... But I digress.
nzscubadiver
Not great research here, water first passed through the mouth of a shark as a consequence of forward movement. I didn’t like the options. A shark certainly does not breathe through it’s gills, it does breath out their gills though.
Stephen Illich
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with Fred Conner, Sharks at rest may slow down, but must keep swimming in order to bring oxygenated water into their mouths so it can be expelled as it passes over the gills. Even basic hydrodynamics shows the gill flaps are attached at the front and open at the back which would force most ofthe oxygenated water away from the gills.