Now we will see a topic that for many people may seem strange, despite being something very common in nature. We refer to aquatic animals that breathe similar to humans.
Frogs and reptiles
We start the topic about aquatic animals that breathe similar to humans. The first thing to explain is that they are vertebrate animals. At the beginning of their life, they breathe through the skin, when they hatch, then pass through the gills, and finally they gradually reach pulmonary respiration. They are better known as amphibians.
Frog
And the first in the list of aquatic animals that breathe similar to humans, is the frog, member of a genus of anuran amphibians, members of the family Ranidae. It inhabits temperate Eurasia to Indochina, as well as western North America. The species of this genus have characteristic thin waists and rough skin. Many have fine striae that run down the back but without the warts typical of toads.
They are skippers thanks to their long and slender hind legs. An interdigital membrane in their hind feet allows them an agile swimming. Usually green or brown with black and yellow spots on the back, but paler on the belly.
The females lay their eggs in large masses. It is estimated that they can reach 20 thousand eggs.
Crocodile
Crocodilians (Crocodylidae) belong to the family of archosaur sauropsids (reptiles), commonly known as crocodiles. This classification includes the 14 current species. We do not refer to large semi-aquatic reptiles that live in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, America and Australia. They first appeared during the Eocene, about 55 million years ago.
These dangerous animals tend to congregate in freshwater habitats such as rivers, lakes, wetlands and, sometimes, in brackish water. They eat mainly fish, reptiles and mammals. They also eat invertebrates such as molluscs and crustaceans, depending on the species.
The Penguin
Now we will see one of aquatic oviparous, marine animals. The penguins, of the family Spheniscidae, order Sphenisciformes, represent a group of seabirds, non-flying, that are distributed almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, with the exception of the penguin of the Galapagos Islands.
The first Europeans to observe these animals were members of Vasco da Gama's first expedition. They called them birds, children or stupid birds, for their clumsy and upright gait and for not being able to fly.
The mammals
The most obvious is that among aquatic animals that breathe similar to humans, most are mammals, where there is a specific division that includes terrestrial mammals and marine mammals, such is the case of dolphins, whales, seals and lions. marine These present pulmonary respiration, for which they use a hole called blowhole, which have a sphincter that allows them to be closed when submerged in water.
Blue whale
Balaenoptera musculus It is a species of cetacean, a member of the Balaenopteridae family. This giant reaches 27 meters in length and weighs between 100 and 120 tons. It is the largest animal on the planet today, but also of the record in history.
Our mammal has a long and stylized body. Bluish gray on the back and a little lighter in the ventral area.
At least three different subspecies are known: B. m. musculus, which dwell in the North Atlantic and North Pacific; B. m. intermediate, inhabitant of the Antarctic Ocean and B. m. brevicauda or blue pygmy whale, which extends across the Indian Ocean and into the South Pacific.
Fish with lung breathing
(Subclass: Dipnoi), the animals of this subclass, contrary to other fish, possess a pair of functional lungs that originate from a derivation of the ventral wall at the end of the pharynx. As adults, they have open nostrils to the outside that they use for the sense of smell, although in their larval state they have external gills.
There are three genera: Protopterus, which is located in Africa, with 4 species; the Lepidosiren, from South America, with one species; and Neoceratodus from Australia, also with a single species
Lepidosiren paradoxa
Now among aquatic animals that breathe similar to humans, we will see one of the most curious cases. And it's South American. Better known as American mud fish or scaly salamander. (Lepidosiren paradoxa) is the only species of fish with lungs that inhabits South America.
They are of slow water. They inhabit the swamps and slow-moving waters of the Amazon River, in Paraguay, as well as in the Paraná basin. It is the only member of the family Lepidosirenidae. Very little is known about this South American lungfish.
Young people can see gold under a black relief. While in adults, the color changes to become brown or gray. Their premaxillary and maxillary joints are fused as in all the dipnoos. They also have a suspension of the jaw and the adductor muscles of this are very powerful like the rest of the African lungfish.
They have an elongated body, like an eel. They measure 125 cm long.