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Ventilation and Gas Exchange

  • Chapter
The Biology of Hagfishes

Summary

The respiratory system of hagfishes consists of 6—14 pairs of lens-shaped or bilobed gill pouches each receiving a ventilatory water flow from a short afferent gill duct given off from the pharynx. Depending on species, efferent gill ducts either open separately to the exterior or unite to form a single opening on each side of the animal. Each gill pouch has a number of internal folds carrying successive orders of lamellae. Blood in the lamellae flows countercurrent to the water flowing in between the lamellae. The ventilatory water flow is generated by the velum situated in the anterior part of the pharynx. The mechanism of velar pumping is discussed based on ultrasonic scanning images of velar movements. The simultaneous efficiences of oxygenation of the arterial blood and deoxygenation of the ventilated water can only be explained by countercurrent exchange in a well-matched exchanger. A well-developed dermal capillary network secures an adequate supply of oxygen to the skin when the animal has burrowed into sediment. Myxine is very anoxia-tolerant and may retract into the sediment and stop ventilating for hours.

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Authors
  1. Hans Malte
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  2. Jens Peter Lomholt
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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Malte, H., Lomholt, J.P. (1998). Ventilation and Gas Exchange. In: The Biology of Hagfishes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5834-3_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5834-3_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6465-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5834-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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