How Do Fish Breathe Underwater? The Curious Ways Creatures Breathe - Lesson 68

How do a fish’s gills work? Can frogs breathe under water? And does a spider breathe using lungs like we do? Discover why breathing is important and the unique ways God engineered creatures to get the oxygen they need.

Here’s our trail map:

• Why Is Breathing Important?
• How Do Fish Breathe Underwater?
• How Do Frogs Breathe Through Their Skin?
• How Do Spiders Breathe Using Book Lungs?
• What Is the Breath of Life?

Episode Links:

Order Eryn’s book: The Nature of Rest: What the Bible and Creation Teach Us About Sabbath Living: https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Rest-Creation-Sabbath-Living/dp/0825448891

Nat Theo Club Bonus Video: https://erynlynum.com/club-videos

Get full lesson guides in  the Nat Theo Club: https://erynlynum.com/club

Free Fish Coloring Sheet: https://erynlynum.com/how-do-fish-breathe-underwater/

Join the Apologia Homeschool Science Fair: https://www.apologia.com/sciencefair

Explore Apologia’s award-winning science courses: https://www.apologia.com/homeschool-science-curriculum/

Ask your nature question: https://erynlynum.com/ask

Listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast: https://podcast.schoolhouserocked.com/

Order Eryn's book, Rooted in Wonder: Nurturing Your Family's Faith Through God's Creation: https://www.amazon.com/Rooted-Wonder-Nurturing-Familys-Creation/dp/0825447615

Scriptures Referenced in This Episode:

“Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person.” Genesis 2:7 (NCV)

“The Spirit of God created me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life.” Job 33:4 (NCV)

“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord...” Psalm 150:6 (NCV)

Terms Learned in This Episode:

Oxygen: A chemical element. It is very simple and cannot be broken down into more basic pieces. It is essential for life and gives us the energy we need to do everything we do.

Dissolved Oxygen: Oxygen that comes from the air and mixes into the water. This can happen at the water’s surface, where air mixes with water, and through plants in the water absorbing oxygen. This is the oxygen available to underwater creatures.

Gills: An organ in fish used to soak up oxygen from the water. Gills are full of blood vessels. When a fish scoops in water through its mouth, the water runs over the gills, and the blood vessels in the gills soak up oxygen from the water and carry it to the rest of the fish’s body.

Countercurrent Exchange System: A system God engineered into fish by which the blood in a fish’s gills flows in the opposite direction from the water flowing over the gills, allowing the fish’s blood to take in enough oxygen from the water.

Cutaneous Respiration: “Skin breathing.” This is when oxygen is absorbed (taken in) through the skin instead of through lungs or gills.

Diffusion: When a substance moves from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, like spreading.

Book Lungs: Thin, stacked, plate-like structures on the underside of a spider’s abdomen through which it gets oxygen. Air flows between the thin plates, and oxygen diffuses into the spider’s bloodstream.

Hemolymph: An equivalent to blood in spiders. Fluid that transports oxygen along with nutrients and other molecules through a spider’s body.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Explore Creation and the Bible in the Nat Theo Club

https://erynlynum.com/club