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CR1MS4NE OP t1_iy4k14r wrote

Reply to comment by Canadian__Ninja in ELI5: why fish can’t breathe in air despite air having plenty of oxygen by CR1MS4NE

What about air can they not handle?

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Moskau50 t1_iy4ob6f wrote

Air dries out and cannot support the fish's gills, causing them to collapse. Once they collapse, they aren't contacting nearly enough air to exchange enough oxygen to keep the fish alive.

Think of how seaweed or kelp in the water can use its buoyancy to stretch itself out, but once out of water, it's just collapses into a heap.

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