Maintaining concentration gradient - countercurrent exchange

Cards (2)

  • Concurrent (parallel) Flow: Blood and water move in the same direction, only about 50% of oxygen; absorbed as there is a diffusion gradient favouring diffusion of oxygen into blood only part of the way across the gill lamellae - in animals with low metabolic rates, that swim slowly leading to a decrease in the need for energy and aerobic respiration
  • Countercurrent exchange: Flow in opposite directions almost all oxygen in the water diffuses into the blood (at a constant rate) across the whole gill lamellae