Marwa A. answered • 09/22/22
Tutor
4.9
(13)
Patient and Knowledgeable Tutor Specializing in Sciences and Math
There is a countercurrent flow between water and blood at the respiratory surfaces of a fish.
Marwa A.
Countercurrent oxygen exchange means the blood flows through the gills in the opposite direction as the water flowing over the gills. This allows the blood moving through the gills to gain oxygen from the water and also encounter increasingly fresh water with a higher oxygen concentration which in turn continuously offloads into the blood. On the other hand, the blood with low oxygen concentration, which is just entering the gill, meets low-oxygen water. But because there is more oxygen in the water, the oxygen can flow from water to blood. Based on the above, the answer to your question is that countercurrent exchange maximizes the amount of oxygen that fish's blood can pick up. Basically, this is achieved because the amount of time their blood is exposed to water that has a higher oxygen level is maximized.
Report
09/23/22
Woo young W.
All of the following pressures have a role in ventilation in mammals EXCEPT a) intra-alveolar b) intrapulmonary c) Atmospheric d) interpleural e) intrapleural I guessing this would be interpleural.
Report
09/23/22
Woo young W.
i have another question regarding countercurrent and concurrent exchange: For animals that respire in water using unidirectional flow, why is countercurrent exchange more efficient than concurrent exchange?09/23/22