How do fish breath, do they absorb oxygen from the water or they do something else?

Question: How do fish breath, do they absorb oxygen from the water or they do something else?
- Keywords:
  breathing,
  fish,
  oxygen
Asked by SofiaS.05 to Carrie, Cedric, Ellen, Ines, Rupert on 7 Mar 2017.
- Carrie Ijichi answered on 7 Mar 2017:
  
  Fish breathe through special tissue on their gills that absorbs oxygen from the water. That’s why they can’t breath and die if they’re taken out of water.
- Ines Goncalves answered on 7 Mar 2017:
  
  Fish breathe like us, but instead of having lungs they have gills on the side of their heads. Instead of taking in breaths, they take in water that goes through the gills. The gills have many capillaries (very small blood vessels) that take up oxygen from the water and carry it to the other parts of the body.
- Rupert Marshall answered on 7 Mar 2017:
  
  When they breathe in they breathe in water – but unlike us they don’t cough and splutter. The water passes out through gills at the side of their head – and the gills collect the oxygen as the water passes by, same as our lungs collect oxygen from the air. Clever stuff!
- Ellen Williams answered on 8 Mar 2017:
  
  Phew – looks like the other guys have all answered your question already Sofia! I knew they had gills but I am afraid that is as far as my knowledge stretched… although I helped out at a Trout dissection Monday so I probably should have listened more in the briefing and I may have known the answer too!
- Cedric Tan answered on 13 Mar 2017:
  
  Great question, my colleagues have answered this question. There is interestingly, a unique species of fish that can breathe air. Have a look:

Question: How do fish breath, do they absorb oxygen from the water or they do something else?

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