Table I
A List of Representative Air-Breathing Fishes Arranged According to the Type of Their Structural Adaptation"
Type of air
Relative importance
breathing
Species
Habitat
of air breathing
Remarks
Reference
Gills
Symbranchus
Swamps and rivers, Essential in OdefiPharyngeal and
marmoratus
South America
cient water and
opercular walls
during estivation
Skin
Hypopomus
Swamps and rivers,
brevirostris
South America
Anguilla anguilla Rivers in Europe,
Accessory during
Asia, Africa,
migrations over
North America
land
Periopthalmus sp. Marine tropical
Essential during
shores, estuarine
voluntary air
and brackish
exposure
water
Gillichtys
Marine shallow
Important in oxygenmirabilis
tidal flats
deficient water
Pharyngeal
Eledrophorus
Rivers and swamps Air breathing
epithelium,
electricus
of South America
obligatory
papillated and
vascular
Gills capable of both
aerial and aquatic
breathing
Gills capable of both
aerial and aquatic
breathing
Rhythmic inflation of
branchial chamber
with air, when air
exposed
Air breathing appears
more related to
behavior than to
environmental
conditions
Remsrkable ability to
change from
aquatic to aerial
breathing
Air breathing dominates 0 2 absorption;
GOt elimination via
vestigial gills and
skin
Taylor (1913)
Johansen (1966)
Carter and Beadle
(1931b)
Krogh (1904)
Berg and Steen (1965)
Schottle (1931)
Todd and Ebeling
(1966)
w
f-l
M
r
Johansen et al. (1968)
r