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Name: Christopher
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Question:
Dear Sirs,

I am doing a project on a sand tiger shark and i was wondering if temperature variations (higher or lower) cause a difference in respiration/breathing of the animal. Answer can be on shark or any fish.


Replies:
Definitely-especially if your shark is ectothermic (ie. cold-blooded). Some sharks are endothermic however. You need to know which yours is to actually make a hypothesis.

Van Hoeck

Yes, but sharks normally stay in waters of approximately the same temperatures. All heterothermic animals are dependent upon the environmental temperatures in order to operate. The classic experiment performed in many biology classes is to adjust the temperature of a goldfish water and count its gill motions. A nice curve results.

Steve Sample


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