River mussels are called mussel shells in some places, living in freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and other water bottoms, half buried in sediment, the inlet and outlet pipes at the back of the body are exposed, and water can flow into and out of the coat cavity, so as to complete the functions of feeding, breathing and excreting feces and metabolites, and filter the tiny organisms and organic matter particles in the water. So, what are the respiratory organs of river mussels? How do river mussels breathe? Let's take a look.
Respiratory organs of river mussels
The respiratory organ of the river mussel is the gills. The river mussel has two flappy gills on each side of the mussel in the outer mantle cavity, and the outer flap gills are shorter than the inner flap gills. Each gill is composed of small gills of the inner and outer gills, whose anteroposterior and ventral margins heal into a "U" shape, and the dorsal margin is the supragill cavity. The gill petals are composed of many longitudinal rows of gill filaments, with cilia on the surface, and there are horizontally arranged filaments between each gill filament, and the small hole between the gill filament and the filament is called the gill. There are valve septities between the gill flaps, which divide the gill lumen between the gill flaps into many small tubes called gill water tubes. There are vascular distributions in the filament and valve septum, and there are also blood vessels and several supporting rods in the gill filament. Due to the oscillation of cilia on the gills and the mantle membrane, causing water flow, the water enters the mantle cavity from the water inlet hole, passes through the gill water hole to the gill water pipe, goes up along the water pipe to the gill cavity, flows backwards, and is discharged from the body through the outlet pipe. When water passes through the gills, a gas exchange is carried out, and the mantle membrane also has the function of assisting breathing.
From the above, it can be seen that the respiratory organs of river mussels, like most fish, rely on gills to breathe. However, the way it breathes is also very different from that of fish, and the river mussel mainly relies on its own outer and inner lobe gills to breathe. The above articles are sorted out by Xiaobian for you, I hope to help you.