Gills are the organs that allow fish to breathe underwater, they absorb the oxygen from the water and use it for energy. Funnily enough gills are similar to the function of the human lungs. The only main difference is how much they are able to absorb, which is smaller concentrations of available oxygen, whilst allowing the fish to maintain an appropriate level of sodium chloride (which the salt from the sea) in their bloodstream.
Gills work pretty much the same way as lungs do. In the lungs there are small sacs called the alveoli which are 70% capillaries, these carry deoxygenated blood from the body. As oxygen and carbon dioxide pass across the alveoli membrane, the capillaries take the newly oxygenated blood back to the body. Just like lungs do gills have the same layout just that they are in rows and columns and are specialised cells grouped together called the epithelium. The deoxygenated blood in the fish is supplied directly from the heart to the epithelium vis arteries and even yet smaller arterioles. As sea water is forced across the epithelium membranes, dissolved oxygen in the sea water is taken up by tiny blood vessels and veins, while the carbon dioxide is exchanged.
I have researched into gills and how they work as my hybrid is half land creature and half sea creature, so for the sea creature part I wanted to add in gills, as this will allow my hybrid to breathe and live in the water however there are only gills on side of the body.
Image:http://s34.photobucket.com/user/ojiji/media/Joyous%20Cascade%203/20Aug2011_UnI24.png.html [Accessed 16th November 2015]
Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifFdaZM81gd4ZRr5wAQiekRBzej38xepdP0VtTKm4u5xNJ_j5i6mXs9x2iHpXNuFJGc4kruQCTSLTToZIdcPkyCtgIGlzaESgOWqysc8lD0nRj1AgdpMqX5EozoAJIGkEk4Cy-a1LdWu0/s1600/Fresh+Gills.jpg [16th November 2015]
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