Fish Flashcards
General Features of Fish Anesthesia
Differences in water temp, water quality/salinity, behavior, response to drugs
○ Make anesthesia challenging
Gills
■ Located behind head in buccal cavity
■ Covered by a sturdy flap (operculum in bony fish)
■ Consists of gill arch, a filament, comprehensive vascular system
Highly folded, highly vascular thin membranes for GE
Vascular Anatomy of Gills
Branchial basket arising from aorta, gives rise to afferent filament arteries that supply filament
Afferent filament arteries give rise to afferent lamellar arterioles that supply lamina
Blood Gases Exchanged in Lamina DT
○ Maximal surface area contact
○ Changes in blood flow
○ Velocity
○ Optimal O2 gradient tensions
How blood gets from gills back to dorsal aorta
Efferent lamellar arterioles in lamine –> efferent filament arteries –> efferent branchial arteries –> dorsal aorta
Arterio-arterial circulation
Countercurrent system to optimize oxygen uptake
Venous blood moves in the opposite direction to the water
Creates a favorable gradient between the oxygen in the blood and water to maximize uptake
Movement of Water Over Gills
Fish draws water into mouth → water pushed out over gills by closing mouth, opening gill cover
Ram Ventilation
Some species force water over gills at varying degrees to achieve more efficient ventilation
Additional Functions of Gills
■ Osmoregulation
■ Nitrogen excretion
■ Hormone metabolism
■ Acid-base regulation
Aquatic Surface Respiration (ASR)
Position mouths to skim air/water interface that is richer in oxygen
Response to hypoxic conditions include developing temporary dermal swellings of lower jaw to facilitate ASR
Lung Fish
possess true lungs with ventrally situated pneumatic duct openings in alimentary canal instead of traditional gas/”swim” bladder
Obligate air breathers
Will alter ventilation to compensate for metabolic acid-base changes
Theoretically possible to cannulate pneumatic duct to administer inhalants
● Challenging and done only experimentally
Some species if placed in immersion bath, will attempt to breath air and not respire with gills (Australian Lungfish)
Basic CV Structure of Fish
Single-cycle, closed-loop system
■ 2-chambered heart (or “4-chambered heart arranged in series”) pumps blood in a single circuit through body, picks up oxygen on way through gills
Parts of Fish Heart
■ Sinus venosus
■ Single atrium
■ Single ventricle
■ Bulbus arteriosus
Blood Flow through Fish
Single-chambered ventricle → bulbus arteriosus (through pair of ventricular-bulbar valves) → aorta → gills for oxygenation then to body → dorsal aorta then to tissues with hepatic and common cardinal veins (blood from body) → sinus venosus
Bulbus Arteriosus
non-contractile but elastic, resembles bulge at base of aorta
Conus Arteriosis
Bulbus arteriosus in sharks
● Contractile cardiac muscle fibers and rows of valves
Sinus Venosus in Fish
sac-like contractile structure
Role of Cardiac Valves in Fish
ensure unidirectional blood flow
SA valve btw Sinus Venosus
AV valve btw Atrium, Ventricle
Ventricular Bulbar Valve btw Ventricle and BA
ECG in Fish (precordial leads)
■ Pwave: onset of atrial (auricular) contraction
■ QRS: invasion of ventricle
● P-R interval: time for impulse to cross atrium, AV junction
■ T wave: repolarization of the ventricle
Branchiocardiac Reflex in Fish
Increasing HR with increasing RR to ensure optimal oxygen uptake
Baroreceptor Reflex in Fish
slows heart rate when arterial blood pressure increases
“Buccal flow/heart rate reflex”
Increased heart rate with increased water flow through the buccal cavity
Can be achieved by moving fish through the water/flowing water through the buccal cavity
Nervous System in Fish
PNS and CNS
■ PNS divided into somatic (motor, sensory) and autonomic division
■ Autonomic: sympathetic, parasympathetic, enteric nervous system
CNS in Fish
Include spinal cord, brain stem (medulla oblongata, telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon, cerebellum)
Diencephalon - epithalamus, thalamus, hypothalamus
Fish have an archipallium (olfactory part of cerebral cortex)
Lack neopallium in cerebrum (cognition, spatial reasoning, higher centers in mammals)
Fish and Stress
Fish are easily stressed: results in high morbidity and mortality
Include:
● Changes in water quality (temp, pH, nitrogenous waste)
● Handling
● Transportation
● Disease
● Noise
● Light abnormalities
● Inadequate nutrition
● Stocking, etc