🌟 How Do Sharks Breathe? 🦈
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Like most fish, sharks breathe using gills.
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Water flows into the shark’s mouth → passes over the gill filaments → oxygen is absorbed into the blood, carbon dioxide is released.
🦈 Special Feature in Sharks
Unlike many bony fish, most sharks cannot pump water over their gills while resting.
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They must keep swimming to push water through their mouths and over their gills.
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This is called ram ventilation.
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If they stop moving, many shark species could suffocate!
🐟 Difference from Other Ocean Fish
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Bony fish (like tuna, salmon, clownfish):
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Have a special flap called the operculum covering the gills.
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Can pump water over their gills even when staying still.
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Sharks (cartilaginous fish):
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No operculum.
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Must swim to breathe (though some species use spiracles—small holes behind the eyes—to suck in water when resting).
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✅ Summary
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Sharks breathe with gills.
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Most sharks must keep swimming so water flows through their gills (ram ventilation).
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Many other fish can breathe while still, because they have an operculum to pump water over the gills.
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