Yes. Typical fish gills include thread-like filaments attached to supporting arches, and each filament bears many thin lamellae. Those lamellae are the main surfaces where dissolved oxygen moves from water into blood and carbon dioxide moves the other way. Fish get water across the gills by pumping it or, in some species, by swimming.
What are fish gills made of?
A typical bony fish gill has several parts, each with a different job:
- Gill arches support the gills and provide attachment points for the filaments. In many bony fishes, arches also carry gill rakers.
- Gill filaments are the feathery or thread-like structures extending from the arches. They contain blood vessels and carry the finer exchange surfaces.
- Gill lamellae are thin plates or folds arranged along the filaments. Water and blood meet across these thin surfaces, where gas exchange takes place.
- Gill rakers are comb-like structures that screen food from water before it reaches the gills. They are not the same as lamellae and do not serve as the main respiratory surface.
- The operculum, or gill cover, protects the gills of many bony fishes and helps move water across them.
A peer-reviewed 1999 review by David H. Evans and coauthors describes typical teleost gills as arches bearing multiple filaments, with filaments subdivided into thousands of lamellae. That is the review’s description of teleost structure, not a fixed count for every fish. It also reports that pavement cells make up more than 90% of gill surface epithelium in its teleost-focused account; that figure should not be treated as a universal measurement for all fish. Read the review in Physiological Reviews.
How do fish breathe?
- Water moves over the gills. A fish takes water into its mouth or moves forward through water so it flows across the gill surfaces.
- Oxygen enters the blood. Dissolved oxygen crosses the thin lamellar surface from water into blood.
- Blood carries oxygen through the body. The circulatory system transports the absorbed oxygen to tissues.
- Carbon dioxide leaves the blood. It diffuses across the gill surface into the water, which then exits the fish.
At the lamellae, water and blood flow in opposite directions, a pattern called counter-current exchange. This arrangement helps sustain the difference in oxygen concentration across the exchange surface as water and blood pass one another. Evans and coauthors describe this structure and flow in their teleost-focused review. For an accessible overview of gill anatomy and ventilation, see the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Exploring Our Fluid Earth.
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How does water get across the gills?
Pumping with the mouth and gill cover
Many bony fish use movements of the mouth and operculum to draw water in and pump it across the gills. This is often called buccal pumping. The operculum also shields the gills while water passes through.
Swimming-driven ventilation
Some fish rely on forward movement to push water over their gills, a method known as ram ventilation. The University of Hawaiʻi resource contrasts tuna, which need continuous swimming to ventilate, with wrasses, which can pump water over the gills. That contrast is not a rule for every species: fish differ in how they ventilate, and not all must swim continuously to breathe.
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Do all fish breathe only with gills?
No. Gills are central to breathing in typical fish, but some species also take up oxygen from air or through other tissues. Washington State University’s Ask Dr. Universe article notes that African lungfish take air at the surface and mudskippers can obtain oxygen through skin or mouth tissue. These are examples of adaptations, not evidence that gills work the same way in every fish. Read WSU’s explanation of how fish breathe.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How do fish gills differ across groups?
Many bony fish have gills protected by an operculum. Sharks and rays, by contrast, have open gill openings rather than an operculum. Within these broad groups, ventilation also varies: some fish pump water across the gills, some use forward swimming, and some supplement gill breathing with air or oxygen uptake through other tissues.
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The shared idea is a blood-rich exchange surface exposed to moving water; the exact structures and breathing strategy depend on the kind of fish.
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