In: Anatomy and Physiology
What is the main challenge most fish face when using their swim bladders? How are both the Bohr and the Root effects essential for fish swim bladder function?
Major challenge with swimming is that the density of water in the ocean varies with location and time. A fish needs to continuously adjust the body density to that of water, else it will not be buoyant neutral. This adjustment has to be made rapidly for efficient swimming. For this purpose, fish have a bladder which is filled with gas. This bladder continuously fills and empties, to allow the fish to maintain its desired density. The bladder is filled with oxygen, carried by hemoglobin in the blood. The hemoglobin is modified in fish, allows it to fill or empty its swim bladder. When the blood around the bladder is acidic, hemoglobin releases oxygen into the bladder and vice versa when the blood acidity decreases. Under normal circumstances, hemoglobin binds oxygen as more and more free oxygen is available. But with acidic blood, hemoglobin releases oxygen even at high oxygen concentrations. This is possible only because of the Root effect. The same pheonomenon is seen in humans, but to a reduced degree, which is known as the Bohr effect.