Goldfish Metabolic Rate Essay

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The temperature of water affects the respiration rate of goldfish, the number of breaths taken per minute, because as a goldfish’s metabolic rate, the rate at which metabolism occurs, changes, the heart and respiration rates will also change. If the metabolic rate increases, the respiration rate increases as well in order to deliver more oxygen at a faster pace to meet the increased need for oxygen. If the metabolic rate decreases, on the other hand, the respiration rate will decrease because they don’t need as much oxygen in the set time frame.

The cold water experimental group had the lowest respiration rate with an average of 85 operculum contracts per minute. When the temperature of water is decreased, the metabolic rate of the goldfish also decreases since they are ectothermic, meaning their regulation of body temperature depends on external sources from the environment. Since they are metabolizing at a slow pace, their need for oxygen is …show more content…

This is a large jump from both the cold water group (85) and the room temperature control group (95.2). As water temperature increases, the amount of oxygen the water contains decreases. This causes the goldfish to breathe faster in order to get enough oxygen to survive. In addition, the increase in the temperature also increased the metabolic activity of the goldfish. Since their metabolic activity increased, they were metabolizing at a much faster pace than the other groups, which makes their need for oxygen much stronger. The respiration rate for this group was likely so high because the water was too hot for them. This is a probable scenario because our research said that goldfish can thrive in a wide range of temperatures from 10 to 20 degrees C, and all of the hot water trials were above 20 degrees. The cold water, on the other hand, tested temperatures from 12 to 20 (the control/room temperature) degrees

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