Gill Dimensions as a Function of Fish Size

Abstract

The relationship between total gill area and body weight can be expressed as Y + aWb where "b" varies from about 0.8 to 0.9 for different species. The area for a 1-g fish ("a") ranges 22-fold for published data on different species. Expressed by the same general equation, the number of secondary lamellae per millimeter of filament ranges 4-fold for different species and decreases with increasing fish weight within each species by a power of about −0.1.