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Rivulus capillary respiration
Someone made the reasonable point that it would appear that a fish's
scales would block any gas exchange. Oxygen (O2) is a small enough
molecule, without any electrical charge on it, so that it can diffuse
through a surprising amount of intervening material given time. A caudal
fin would actually be a pretty good exchange area for this to happen, but
even a scaled body area could probably absorb more oxygen than one would
think. I say this as an educated guess without any direct experience
myself. If MMT is typically found in muddy holes and under rotting logs,
that would strongly imply they have some auxillary "breathing"
capabilities beyond gills. Imagine everything you know is wrong, and it
begins to make sense. . .
--Bruce Stallsmith
fundulus at world_std.com