[neilep (OP)]

Dear Fishologists,

See Frank The Fish ?




He's having a good old time swimming up and down, round and round forever !!

He's clearly quite efficient at breathing underwater ?

So, what happens to him if he were out of the water. Does Frank suffocate ?..how come ?...there's lots more of what he breaths out of the water isn't there ?

Take the bait and hook me with an answer will ya  ..*le groan*

[Madidus_Scientia]

The way i understood it was that the reason fish can breathe in the water is because of the very large surface area of their gills, however out of the water the gills will collapse, due to their weight (they are kind of weightless in the water) so they simply will not have the ability to diffuse enough oxygen into their blood

[neilep (OP)]

THANK YOU Madidus_Scientia

Now that you explain it like that ...it seems obvious !...I wonder then....if there was a way to stop the gills collapsing out of the water whether fish could survive !

THANK YOU again.

[Karen W.]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=488193&in_page_id=1770


The fish that can survive for months in a tree
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE - More by this author » Last updated at 22:20pm on 17th October 2007

Comments Comments (4)
It's one of the golden rules of the natural world – birds live in trees, fish live in water.

The trouble is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish.
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Scientists have discovered that it spends several months of every year out of the water and living inside trees.

Scroll down for more ...
mangrove killifish

Adaptable: The killifish can alter the way it breathes

Hidden away inside rotten branches and trunks, the remarkable creatures temporarily alter their biological makeup so they can breathe air.

Biologists studying the killifish say they astonished it can cope for so long out of its natural habitat.

The discovery, along with its ability to breed without a mate, must make the mangrove killifish, Rivulus marmoratus Poey, one of the oddest fish known to man.

Around two inches long, they normally live in muddy pools and the flooded burrows of crabs in the mangrove swamps of Florida, Latin American and Caribbean.

The latest discovery was made by biologists wading through swamps in Belize and Florida who found hundreds of killifish hiding out of the water in the rotting branches and trunks of trees.

The fish had flopped their way to their new homes when their pools of water around the roots of mangroves dried up. Inside the logs, they were lined up end to end along tracks carved out by insects.

Dr Scott Taylor of the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Programme in Florida admitted the creatures were a little odd.

"They really don't meet standard behavioural criteria for fish," he told New Scientist magazine.

Although the cracks inside logs make a perfect hiding place, conditions can be cramped. The fish – which are usually fiercely territorial – are forced to curb their aggression.

Another study, published earlier this year, revealed how they alter their bodies and metabolism to cope with life out of water.

Their gills are altered to retain water and nutrients, while they excrete nitrogen waste through their skin.

These changes are reversed as soon as they return to the water.

Previously their biggest claim to fame was that they are the only known vertebrate – animal with a backbone – to reproduce without the need for a mate.

Killifish can develop both female and male sexual organs, and fertilise their eggs while they are still in the body, laying tiny embryos into the water.

They are not the only fish able to breathe air. The walking catfish of South-east Asia has gills that allow it to breathe in air and in water.

The climbing perch of India can suffocate in water unless it can also gulp in air.

[Alandriel]

 [8D] [8D]  Karen

[neilep (OP)]

AWESOME KAREN !!

I wish I could adapt myself so that I can live in a tree for a few months !!

Oh....the fun I could have !!

[neilep (OP)]

 [8D] [8D]  Karen

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!

ALANDRIEL !!!

[Karen W.]

 [8D] [8D]  Karen

HI Stranger how are you doing?

[Karen W.]

AWESOME KAREN !!

I wish I could adapt myself so that I can live in a tree for a few months !!

Oh....the fun I could have !!

Me too! I did not know there were fish that survived that long..LOL!

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/15/content_7077624.htm

heres another:

 Tropical fish can live for months out of water
www.chinaview.cn 2007-11-15 08:33:46         Print

A tropical fish meanders through the sea waters of Kurumba island in the Maldives, Nov. 12, 2007. (China Daily/Agencies)

A tropical fish meanders through the sea waters of Kurumba island in the Maldives, Nov. 12, 2007. (China Daily/Agencies)
Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Nov. 15 -- A tropical fish that lives in mangrove swamps across the Americas can survive out of water for months at a time, similar to how animals adapted to land millions of years ago, a new study shows.

    The Mangrove Rivulus, a type of small tropical killifish, seeks refuge in shallow pools of water in crab burrows, coconut shells or even old beer cans in the tropical mangrove swamps of Belize, the United States and Brazil.

    When their habitat dries up, they live on the land in logs, said Scott Taylor, a researcher at the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program in central Florida.

    The fish, whose scientific name is Rivulus marmoratus, can grow as large as three inches. They group together in logs hollowed out by insects and breathe air through their skin instead of their gills until they can find water again.

    The scientific breakthrough came after a trip to Belize.

    "We kicked over a log and the fish just came tumbling out," Taylor told Reuters in neighboring Guatemala by telephone. He said he will publish his study on the fish in The American Naturalist journal early next year.

    In lab tests, Taylor said he found the fish can survive for up to 66 days out of water without eating, and their metabolism keeps functioning.

    Clue to Evolution

    Some other fish can survive briefly out of water. The walking catfish found in Southeast Asia can wriggle over land for hours at a time, while lungfish found in Australia, Africa and South America can survive out of water, but only in a dormant state.

    No other known fish can be out of water as long as the Mangrove Rivulus and remain active, according to Patricia Wright, a biologist at Canada's University of Guelph.

    "They can survive for weeks without really dropping their metabolic rate. They remain relatively responsive and active for weeks in air," she said.

    The fish may hold clues to how animals evolved over time.

    "These animals live in an environment that is similar to conditions that existed millions of year ago, when animals began making the transition from water onto land," she added.

    Surviving on land is not the only unusual behavior exhibited by the fish. They have both testes and ovaries and essentially clone themselves by laying their own, already fertilized eggs.

    "This is probably the coolest fish around, not only do they have a very bizarre sex life, but they really don't meet standard behavioral criteria for fishes," said Taylor in a summary of his paper.

    (Source: China Daily/Agencies)
Editor: Mo Hong'e

[neilep (OP)]

Gosh !!!


If I come back as something...I want to come back as a Tropical Sheep !!

[Karen W.]

Didn't you know??? Youv'e done gone and come back... EWE are a Tropical Sheepy ALREADY!!