Blue Whale Research Paper

he Blue Whale does not have gills and cannot breathe underwater. Instead the blue whale uses its blow-hole at the top of its head to inhale and exhale oxygen when it surfaces for air. Blue whales are capable of sealing its nostrils to avoid water entering the lungs and drowning. They not only forcefully expel air up to 30 meters in the air, but also mucus and carbon dioxide from its metabolism. After the blue whale has inhaled air through the blow-hole it dives, During deep dives the blue whale can hold its breath for up to 90 minutes before resurfacing for air, however it mostly dives for less than 30 minutes. When the whale dives, its lungs collapse under the pressure of the water weighing down its body. Once it reaches a death that the …show more content…
The gases dissolve into the fluids of the body. The lungs of a blue whale are fairly small as when it dives the lungs compress and force more gas to dissolve in the tissue and "if the whale ascended too quickly with all that gas absorbed in the tissues and not enough in the lungs, it would lead to decompression sickness"(found on the website …show more content…
Species three – insects
They use system of branching tubes called tracheal tubes enabling them to connect the internal gas exchange system of individual cells/tissues with air inside. "Respiratory gases enter and exit the organism through holes in the exoskeleton called spiracles" (class notes from Mr. Curwen). There are two types of insects that live in the water, one types is Aquatic insects like the mayfly nymph and the other type is non-aquatic insects like the great diving beetle.
Diving beetles go to the surface and open the spiracles and trap air under the wings and dive. The oxygen diffuses into the body from the water and then into the tracheae. The air is kept as a bubble on the butt of the insect and hunt around for food. once they are done with it, it pops and they go back up for more air. Diving beetles are buoyant meaning that as soon as they stop swimming they will just float to the top. But it also limits how far they can

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