Amphibian breathing

Author: Peter Berry
Date Of Creation: 12 February 2021
Update Date: 22 November 2024
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Respiratory Organs In Amphibians
Video: Respiratory Organs In Amphibians

Content

You amphibians they were probably the step 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 some point, some animals started to come out. For this, adaptive changes had to emerge that allowed breathing air instead of water. In this article by PeritoAnimal, we talk about amphibian breath. Do you want to know where and how amphibians breathe? We will tell you!

what are amphibians

Amphibians are a large phylum of tetrapod vertebrate animals that, unlike other vertebrate animals, undergo a metamorphosis throughout their lives, which makes them have several mechanisms to breathe.


Types of amphibians

Amphibians are classified into three orders:

  • Gymnophiona Order, which are the cecilias. They are worm-shaped, with four very short ends.
  • Tail Order. They are the urodelos, or tailed amphibians.In this order are classified salamanders and newts.
  • Anura Order. These are the popular animals known as toads and frogs. They are tailless amphibians.

Amphibian Characteristics

Amphibians are vertebrate animals poikilotherms, that is, your body temperature is regulated according to the environment. Therefore, these animals usually live in hot or temperate climates.


The most important feature of this group of animals is that they go through a very abrupt transformation process called metamorphosis. Amphibian reproduction is sexual. After laying the eggs and after a certain time, larvae hatch that look little or nothing like an adult individual and are aquatic in life. During this period, they are called tadpoles and they breathe through the gills as well as the skin. During metamorphosis, they develop the lungs, extremities and sometimes lose their tails (this is the case of the frogs and frogs).

have a very thin and moist skin. Despite being the first to colonize the Earth's surface, they are still animals closely linked to water. Such thin skin allows for gas exchange throughout the animal's life.


Get to know all the characteristics of amphibians in this article.

Where do amphibians breathe?

Amphibians, throughout their lives, use various breathing strategies. This is because the environments in which they live before and after metamorphosis are very different, although they are always closely linked to water or humidity.

During the larval stage, amphibians are aquatic animals and they live in freshwater areas, such as ephemeral ponds, ponds, lakes, rivers with clean, clear water and even swimming pools. After metamorphosis, the vast majority of amphibians become terrestrial and, while some continually enter and exit the water to maintain themselves moist and hydrated, others are able to keep moisture in their bodies simply by protecting themselves from the sun.

So we can distinguish four types of amphibian breathing:

  1. Branchial respiration.
  2. Mechanism of the buccopharyngeal cavity.
  3. Breathing through skin or integuments.
  4. Pulmonary breathing.

How do amphibians breathe?

Amphibian breathing changes from one stage to another, and there are also some differences between species.

1. Amphibian breathing through the gills

After leaving the egg and until reaching metamorphosis, the tadpoles they breathe through the gills on both sides of the head. In the species of frogs, toads and frogs, these gills are hidden in gill sacs, and in urodelos, that is, salamanders and newts, they are fully exposed to the outside. These gills are highly irrigated by the circulatory system, and also have a very thin skin that allows gas exchange between the blood and the environment.

2. Breathing buccopharyngeal of the amphibians

In salamanders and in some adult frogs, there are buccopharyngeal membranes in the mouth that act as respiratory surfaces. In this breath, the animal takes in air and holds it in its mouth. Meanwhile, these membranes, highly permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide, carry out gas exchange.

3. Amphibian breathing through the skin and integuments

Amphibian skin is very thin and unprotected, so they need to keep it moist at all times. This is because they can carry out gas exchange through this organ. When they are tadpoles, breathing through the skin is very important, and they combine it with gill breathing. Upon reaching the adult stage, it has been shown that the uptake of oxygen by the skin is minimal, but the expulsion of carbon dioxide is high.

4. Amphibian lung respiration

During metamorphosis in amphibians, the gills gradually disappear and the lungs develop to give adult amphibians the opportunity to move onto dry land. In this type of breathing, the animal opens its mouth, lowers the floor of the oral cavity, and thus air enters. Meanwhile, the glottis, which is a membrane that connects the pharynx to the trachea, remains closed and therefore there is no access to the lung. This is repeated over and over again.

In the next step, the glottis opens and, due to a contraction of the chest cavity, the air from the previous 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 the gas exchange. Between one breathing process and another, there is usually some time.

Examples of amphibians

Below, we present a short list with some examples of more than 7,000 species of amphibians that exist in the world:

  • Cecilia-de-Thompson (Caecilia Thompson)
  • Caecilia-pachynema (Typhlonectes compressicauda)
  • Tapalcua (Dermophis mexicanus)
  • Ringed Cecilia (Siphonops annulatus)
  • Ceylon of Ceylon (Ichthyophis glutinosus)
  • Chinese Giant Salamander (andrias davidianus)
  • Fire salamander (salamander salamander)
  • Tiger salamander (Tigrinum Ambystoma)
  • Northwestern Salamander (ambystoma gracile)
  • Long-toed Salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum)
  • Cave salamander (Eurycea Lucifuga)
  • Salamander-zig-zag (dorsal plethodon)
  • Red-legged Salamander (plethodon shermani)
  • Iberian newt (boscai)
  • Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus)
  • Marbled Newt (Triturus marmoratus)
  • Firecracker Newman (Cynops orientalis)
  • Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)
  • East American Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
  • Common frog (Pelophylax perezi)
  • Poison dart frog (Phyllobates terribilis)
  • European tree frog (Hyla arborea)
  • White arboreal frog (caerulean coast)
  • Harlequin frog (Atelopus Varius)
  • Common Midwife Toad (obstetrics alytes)
  • European Green Frog (viridis buffets)
  • Thorny Toad (spinulosa rhinella)
  • American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)​
  • Common Toad (snort snort)
  • Runner toad (epidalea calamita)
  • Cururu frog (Rhinella marina)

If you want to read more articles similar to Amphibian breathing, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.