Concurrent flow

To understand countercurrent flow, it is easiest to start by looking at concurrent flow where water and blood
flow over and through the lamellae in the same direction.
When the blood first comes close to the water, the water is fully saturated with oxygen and the blood has very
little. There is therefore a very large concentration gradient and oxygen diffuses out of the water and into the
blood.
As you move along the lamella, the water is slightly less saturated and blood slightly more but the water still has
more oxygen in it so it diffuses from water to blood. This continues until the water and the blood have reached
equal saturation.
After this the blood can pick up no more oxygen from the water because there is no more concentration gradient.
The maximum saturation of the water is 100% so the maximum saturation of the blood is 50%.

Countercurrent flow
As the blood flows in the opposite direction to the water, it always flows next to water that has given up less of its
oxygen.
This way, the blood is absorbing more and more oxygen as it moves along. Even as the blood reaches the end of the
lamella and is 80% or so saturated with oxygen, it is flowing past water which is at the beginning of the lamella and
is 90 or 100% saturated.
Therefore, even when the blood is highly saturated, having flowed past most of the length of the lamellae, there is
still a concentration gradient and it can continue to absorb oxygen from the water.

Questions
1. Explain, with reference to structural adaptation, how breathing occurs in fish (use diagrams)
2. Explain, with reference to structural adaptations, how gas exchange occurs in fish (use diagrams)