AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

The air-bladder and pulmonary and systematic circulation of Amia Calva L., together with a general description of the fish.

by Annie Philathea. Graham




Institution: McGill University
Department: Department of Zoology.
Degree: MS.
Year: 1939
Keywords: Osteichthyes.; Fishes  – Physiology.
Record ID: 1546941
Full text PDF: http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/thesisfile130772.pdf


Abstract

The air-bladder of bony fish, or Osteichthyes, has aroused the interest of scientists for a very long time. According to Goodrich, Ronde1et studied the bladder of the Actinopterygii in 1554 and concluded that it helps the fish to swim. In the following century (1667) Needham suggested that it might serve one of several purposes: as a float, as a respiratory reservoir or as an organ to secrete gas to help in digestion. During the seventeenth century Mayow, Ray, Boyle and Borelli studied it by various experimental methods. Discussion on the functions of the bladder continued throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and indeed are still carried on to-day. [...]