View Full Version : lungfish breathing
dovii88
02-20-2006, 10:39 PM
hey my lungfish is constantly going up for air and is it normal for them just to kill food and leave it there or is that bad..he eats it and then spits the rest out...
beblondie
02-21-2006, 7:27 PM
Does he eventually eat it?
Oddball
02-21-2006, 7:53 PM
Going to the surface to breath is normal lungfish behavior. They're air breathers.
i reckon that someone should build an enclosure for one so it had water on both sides of a small piece of land, so it could swap and change. thatd be cool. see if it would move to one with feeder fish n stuff.fun experiment/set up i reckon
beblondie
02-21-2006, 9:32 PM
Normal food inggestion
Lungfhishes generaly inhale the food item then chew(they have no teeth,the teeth were fused together long ago into plates 1 upper 1 lower) on it for a while and then spits the flattened, macerated item almost all the way out of its mouth.The crushed food item is covered with a thick, slimy mucus-like substance.Then the food is inhaled again and the process is repeated until the lungish is satisfied that the item is well and truly mashed to a pulp.Then it swallows the food and is off to search for more. Any loose bits of food are expelled from the gill slit (along with their mucus covering).
Lungfish do not have a stomach as we think of one.The primary role of the stomach is to serve as a food storage area where the food items are physically prepared for the intestine and some initial phases of chemical digestion occur. Because lungfish (and chimaeras) chew and crush their food into tiny bits instead of bolting down large chunks, there is less of a need for a food storage area and the digestive processes are all carried out in the intestine with the use of a spiral valve. Lungfish do have a slight swelling of the esophagus anterior to the intestine (where a stomach would normally be) but it doesn't appear that the food really stays there for long.-Anne
spiral valve = a spiral or helical fold in the midgut.Functions to increase the surface area for processing food without lengthening the intestine.
Dirty Fish
02-27-2006, 2:31 AM
Very nicely put!
KillerKlover
03-14-2006, 9:55 PM
Lungfish are so cool
dovii88
03-15-2006, 2:28 PM
thnx for tht oppinion they are very cool
OrnatipinnisBichir
03-15-2006, 3:29 PM
As mentioned above lungfish chew and mush there food they spit it back out turn it around chew some more . Ov er and over now if your is still leaveing food in the tank instead of actualy swallowing it. Wait a few days befor feeding it again. It may just be one them lungs who dont like tank mates?
Does he have tank mates or empty tank?