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There are many skin-breathing animals, although some of them, due to their size, combine with another type of breathing or modify the body shape to increase the surface/volume ratio.
In addition, skin-breathing animals have an extremely fine berry or epidermal tissue so that they can produce gas exchange. They must be aquatic, be very attached to water, or live in extremely humid environments.
Have you ever wondered how animals breathe through their skin? In this article by PeritoAnimal we will talk about animals that breathe through their skin, what breathing mechanisms exist and other curiosities about the animal world. Keep reading!
Types of Animal Breathing
In the animal kingdom there are many types of breathing. Whether an animal has one type or another depends on many factors, including whether it lives in a terrestrial or aquatic environment, whether it is a small or large animal, whether it flies or metamorphoses.
One of the main types of breathing is through the brachia. Brachia are a structure that can be inside or outside the animal and allow it to take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. The animal group in which there is more diversity of brachia is that of aquatic invertebrates, for example:
- You polychaetes they take out the tentacles they use as brachia and to feed when they are not in danger.
- At starfish it has gill papules that act as brachia. In addition, the ambulatory feet also function as brachia.
- O sea ​​cucumber it has a respiratory tree that flows to the mouth (aquatic lung).
- O crab presents the brachia covered by the carapace in which the animal moves rhythmically.
- gastropods they have brachia that develop from the mantle cavity (special cavity that molluscs present).
- You bivalves have laminated brachii with projections to mix with the medium.
- You cephalopods have laminated brachii without eyelashes. The mantle is what will contract to move the medium.
Other animals that breathe through the brachia are fish. If you want to know more, check out our article on how fish breathe.
Another type of breathing is the tracheal breathing which happens mainly in insects. Animals that exhibit this breath have a structure in their body called a spiracle through which they take air and distribute it throughout the body.
Another respiratory mechanism is the one that uses the lungs. This type is very common among vertebrates, except fish. In reptiles, for example, there are unicameral and multicameral lungs. In small animals such as snakes, unicameral lungs are used, and in larger animals such as crocodiles, multicameral lungs are used. They have a bronchus that runs through the entire lung, it is a reinforced cartilaginous bronchus. In birds, there is a bronchial lung that consists of a set of bronchi placed in a square shape with a series of air sacs. Mammals have lungs that can be divided into lobes.
Skin breathing animals
THE skin breathing, as an exclusive form of breathing, occurs in small animals because they have few metabolic requirements and, because they are small, the diffusion distance is small. When these animals grow, their metabolic requirements and volume increase, so diffusion is not enough, so they are forced to create another type of breathing.
Slightly larger animals have another mechanism for breathing or take on an enlarged shape. The lumbricidae, by having an enlarged shape, increase the relation between surface-volume, and it is possible to continue with this type of breathing. However, they need to be in moist environments and on a thin, permeable surface.
Amphibians, for example, have various types of breathing throughout life. When leaving the egg, they breathe through the brachia and the skin, and the brachia lose full functionality when the animal becomes an adult. When they are tadpoles, the skin serves both to capture oxygen and release carbon dioxide. When they reach adulthood, the oxygen uptake function is reduced and the release of carbon dioxide increases.
Animals that breathe through their skin: examples
To learn a little more about skin-breathing animals, we've listed a few skin breathing animals permanent or at some period of life.
- Lumbricus terrestris. All roundworms on earth breathe through their skin throughout their lives.
- Hirudo medicinalis. They also have permanent skin breathing.
- Cryptobranchus alleganiensis. It is a giant American salamander that breathes through its lungs and skin.
- Desmognathus fuscus. It has exclusive cutaneous breathing.
- Boscai lyssotriton. Also known as Iberian newt, it breathes through the lungs and skin.
- Alytes obstetricans. Also known as midwife toad and, like all toads and frogs, it has brachial breathing when it is a tadpole and lung breathing when it is an adult. Skin breathing is lifelong, but in adulthood, the release of carbon dioxide becomes important.
- Cultripes Pelobates. Or black nail frog.
- Pelophylax perezi. Common frog.
- Phyllobates terribilis. It is considered the most poisonous vertebrate in the world.
- Oophaga pumilio.
- Paracentrotus lividus.Or sea urchin, it has brachia and performs cutaneous breathing.
- Sminthopsis Douglasi. Metabolism and size do not allow mammals to have skin respiration, but it has been found that newborns of this marsupial species rely exclusively on skin respiration during the first few days of life.
As a curiosity, the human being has cutaneous breathing, but only in the corneal tissue of the eyes.
If you want to read more articles similar to Animals that breathe through their skin, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.