MadSci Network: Zoology
Query:

Re: How does a Sea Aneomone breath.

Date: Thu Nov 4 21:27:40 1999
Posted By: Dave Williams, Science Department Chair, Valencia Community College
Area of science: Zoology
ID: 940780494.Zo
Message:

I will assume that your are asking how an anemone breathes. The simple answer is 
that, in the strictest sense of the word "breathe" (to inhale and exhale air), 
they don't. Of course, the purpose of inhaling and exhaling air is to provide 
for gas exchange. Carbon dioxide, which builds up in the cells of most organisms 
as a by product of energy metabolism, must escape to the atmosphere. Oxygen, 
needed by most organisms for energy metabolism, must get in.


In humans and many other types of animals, this need is provided for by a 
respiratory system, consisting of lungs in terrestrial animals and gills (or 
gill-like organs) in aquatic animals. An exception is found in aquatic animals 
which are very small or have very thin body parts, such as the jellyfish and 
anemones. These animals can successfully exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide 
directly with the environment (the surrounding water which contains dissolved 
oxygen). This is how an anemone "breathes".



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