Why fish are better at breathing than you are - Dan Kwartler

Explore how fish use their gills to breathe, and how these processes make them some of the most efficient breathers on Earth.

--

Recent studies found that elite runners can take in twice as much oxygen as non-runners. And it’s likely that this superhuman ability played a role in breaking the two-hour marathon barrier in 2019. But when it comes to breathing efficiently, not even the best runners can compete with the average fish. What makes fish some of the best breathers on Earth? Dan Kwartler explores the science of gills.

Lesson by Dan Kwartler, directed by Denys Spolitak.

Support Our Non-Profit Mission
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Connect With Us
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Keep Learning
----------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Roberto Chena, Oliver Koo, Luke Pisano, Andrea Gordon, Aleksandar Donev, Nicole Klau Ibarra, Jesse Lira, Ezekiel Raui, Petr Vacek, Dennis, Olivia Fu, Kari Teffeau, Cindy Lai, Rajath Durgada Manjunath, Dan Nguyen, Chin Beng Tan, Tom Boman, Karen Warner, Iryna Panasiuk, Aaron Torres, Eric Braun, Sonja Worzewski, Michael Clement, Adam Berry, Ghaith Tarawneh, Nathan Milford, Tomas Beckett, Alice Ice, Eric Berman, Kurt Paolo Sevillano, Jennifer Heald, Megulo Abebe, isolwi, Kate Sem, Ujjwal Dasu, Angel Alberici, Minh Quan Dinh, Sylvain, Terran Gimpel, Talia Sari, Katie McDowell, Allen, Mahina Knuckles, Charmaine Hanson, Thawsitt, Jezabel, Abdullah Abdulaziz, Xiao Yu, Melissa Suarez and Brian A. Dunn.

[reihanasabrina]

In the defense of our species a fish probably can’t run a Vienna marathon in 1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds

[JackieOwl]

To be fair, they did have a 300 million year head start compared to our lungs, which is about half as long as complex life has been on earth. They got an amazing head start.

[CYCLAM]

0:05 "If my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike"

[jembyyn]

3:18 A blobfish doesn't look like that in its native habitat of the depths. It only looks like that if it's pulled up rapidly to above the surface. It looks nothing like this when you just leave it alone.

[emmanuelvillagra]

Why did I become suddenly breathing consciously while watching this?

[Becky_Cooling]

4:45 'fortunately for most fish'
*shows dolphin, a mammal*

[SarimDeLaurec]

Poorblob fish. Depicted how he looks after rapid decompression instead of how he looks like in his habitat. :(

[ahmedkamal]

I swear i read the thumbnail as "how do GIRLS work"😅

[kamillelord]

I am *so* aware of my breathing right now.

[mc]

I like the animation, it is very well done

[csmyfavoritecompany]

Now I know why Tanjiro always mastering breathing techniques

[jackt]

I read that title totally wrong. Thought it said "How do girls work". If you fancy making a video on that it'd be much appreciated. 😂

[levy]

Why did the fish accept its death after losing its respiratory organs?



Because it lost the gill to live.

[devindaniels]

3:26 when talking about species of fish surviving through their efficient breathing, you've got cephalopods and whales. Did anyone bother to check the graphics you're including?

[salm]

If humans have gills they would also colonize the oceans and fight for territory. They would also build humongous infrastructures that would extract everything that is valuable in the waters until it's all depleted.

[IcefisherTenacity]

The blobfish has been misrepresented in its ideal water pressure. It’s infamous blobbiness is a result of depressurization and not seen in it’s deep sea natural habitat.

[thechickenwizard]

A lot of aquatic animals like amphibian larvae, sharks, lamprey, and certian bony fish lack an operculum. I'd take a shot and guess that operculums aren't as crucial for underwater breathing if
A: the animal is only aquatic temporarily or can substitute air as well, B: they use some other motion to move water through the gills (ram breathing in sharks for instance), or C: they can absorb some oxygen through their skin.

[leminator]

Thought the title said: How do girls work?

I still stayed for the fish.

[debwills]

Australian Lungfish - I'm confused as to why the water in Australia disappears in August & September? Those are our cold months generally with lots of rain 🤔

[spswvtk]

In addition to gills, fish like gouramis and bettas also have an organ called a labyrinth that functions like a lung. I don't know if that's what the lungfish has but labyrinths weren't mentioned by name in the video