Amphibious breathing
This was probably the step that evolution took to colonize the Earth’s surface with animals. Until then, they were confined to the seas and oceans, because the land had a very toxic atmosphere. At one point, some animals began to leave. To do this, adaptive changes had to appear that allowed air to be breathed instead of water. In this article by Animal Expert, we talk about amphibian breathing. Do you want to know where and how amphibians breathe? We’ll tell you!
- Amphibians are a large edge of terápod vertebrate animals that.
- Unlike other vertebrate animals.
- Undergo a lifelong metamorphosis.
- Meaning they have several breathing mechanisms.
Amphibians are classified into three orders
Amphibians are poicilothermal vertebrates, that is, their body temperature is regulated according to the environment. As a result, these animals usually live in warm or temperate climates.
The most important feature of this group of animals is that they undergo a very abrupt transformation process called metamorphosis. The reproduction of the amphibians is sexed. After laying eggs and after a while, the larvae hatch that look little or nothing to an adult individual and are aquatic in life. During this period, they are called tadpoles and breathe through the gills and also through the skin. During metamorphosis, they develop the lungs, limbs, and sometimes lose their tail (such as frogs and toads).
They have very thin and moist skin. Although they were the first to colonize the Earth’s surface, they remain closely related animals. This thin skin allows the exchange of gases throughout the life of the animal.
Learn all the features of amphibians in this article
Amphibians, throughout their lives, use various respiratory strategies. In fact, the environments in which they live before and after metamorphosis are very different, although they are still closely related to water or moisture.
In the larval stage, amphibians are aquatic animals and live in freshwater areas, such as ephemeral ponds, lagoons, lakes, clean and clear rivers and even swimming pools. After metamorphosis, the vast majority of amphibians become terrestrial, and while some continually enter and leave the water to stay moist and hydrated, others can keep moisture in their bodies by simply protecting themselves from the sun.
Thus, we can distinguish four types of breathing from amphibians
The way the amphibian is breathed changes from one stage to another, in addition, there are also differences between species.
After leaving the egg and until they reach their metamorphosis, the tadpoles breathe through the gills on both sides of their heads. In species of anuros, frogs and frogs, these gills are hidden in gill bags, and in the urodeles, i.e. salamanders and newts, are completely exposed outdoors. These gills are very irrigated by the circulatory system and also have very fine skin that allows the exchange of gases between the blood and the environment.
In salamanders and some adult anuras, there are oral membranes in the mouth that act as respiratory surfaces. In this breath, the animal takes the air and keeps it in its mouth. At the same time, these membranes, highly permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide, exchange gas.
Amphibian skin is very thin and unprotected, so they should always keep it moist. This is because they can exchange gas through this organ. When tadpoles are very important to breathe through the skin and combine it with gill breathing. Upon reaching the adult state, oxygen absorption by the skin has been shown to be minimal, but carbon dioxide expulsion is high.
During the metamorphosis in the amphibians, the gills gradually disappear and the lungs develop to give the adult amphibians the ability to move to the continent. In this type of breathing, the animal opens the mouth, lowers the floor of the oral cavity and thus enters the air. Meanwhile, the glottis, which is a membrane that connects the pharynx to the trachea, remains closed and there is no access to the lung. This is repeated several times.
In the next step, the glottis opens and, due to a contraction of the chest cavity, the air from the anterior breath, which is in the lungs, is expelled through the mouth and nostrils. The floor of the oral cavity rises and pushes air into the lungs, the glottis closes and a gas exchange occurs. Between one respiratory process and another, it usually takes some time.
Here is a short list of some examples of the more than 7000 amphibian species that exist in the world:
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you visit our Curiosities section of the animal world.