someone asked me whether or not a fish could drown? I wasn't sure if they were being stupid or serious. So I imagine that if the water was depleted of oxygen then it would drown but doesn't water need oxygen to be water? I don't know .. that's why I am asking.
2006-07-12 13:59:03 · 8 answers · asked by Active Denial System™ 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
I versed in the basic chemical make-up of water (H2O) ... my question should have been: are there levels of oxygen in water that must be present to sustain a fish?
2006-07-12 19:39:34 · update #1
Water (H2O) is made up of oxygen, but fish cannot make direct use of the oxygen bound in water. Instead, fish extract oxygen that is dissolved in the water. If there is not enough oxygen dissolved in the water, the fish will die, although I'm not sure I would call that drowning.
2006-07-12 19:33:55 · answer #1 · answered by modi_ponens 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Yes a fish can drown. There are a lot of web references but here is a good one.
A fish out of water, is a fish out of its element. A fish comes fully equipped with a pair of gills, which it uses to breathe under water. The gills extract life-sustaining oxygen from the hydrogen in the water molecules, in order to regulate the amount of oxygen intake. This maintains the necessary balance of the two components of water for the fish to survive.
When a fish is taken out of water, and exposed only to air, not to oxygen and hydrogen containing water, its gills are unable to control the oxygen intake, the delicate balance cannot be maintained, and the gills inhale a lethal overdose of oxygen. The fish essentially experiences death by "drowning."
This article called it drowning, but I believe it would actuall be hypoxia or oxygen poisoning.
2006-07-12 21:05:36 · answer #2 · answered by nairb 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suppose drowning for a fish is not having water, but fish cannot drown under water, they have gills, something we humans do not. Now for your science lesion of the day.
2006-07-12 21:03:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, well, I was lounging around the Oval Office last week and the same qustion came up. So we had Cheny drown a coupla goldfish. Pretty funny!
2006-07-12 21:03:12 · answer #4 · answered by gabluesmanxlt 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think some fish must keep moving in order to breath... so if it couldn't move, then it would drown?
2006-07-12 22:20:12 · answer #5 · answered by Anacapa 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not technically. Drowing is what happens when one inhales water. But that's what fish do.
In water with below normal levels of O2, fish can suffocate.
2006-07-12 21:02:45 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
if sharks stop moving, they're gills don't work. if you call that drowning...
2006-07-12 22:27:49 · answer #7 · answered by Rajan 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No they can not drown.
2006-07-12 21:02:45 · answer #8 · answered by Clogged-Up 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋