Modulation of gill surface area does not correlate with oxygen loss in Chitala ornata

Air-breathing fish risk losing aerially sourced oxygen to ambient hypoxic water since oxygenated blood from the air-breathing organ returns through the heart to the branchial basket before distribution. This loss is thought to have helped drive the evolutionary reduction in gill size with the advent of air-breathing. In many teleost fish, gill size is known to be highly plastic by modulation of their anatomic diffusion factor (ADF) with interlamellar cell mass (ILCM). In the anoxia-tolerant crucian carp, ILCM recedes with hypoxia but regrows in anoxia. The air-breathing teleost, Chitala ornata has been shown to increase gill ADF from normoxic to mildly hypoxic water by reducing ILCM. Here, we test the hypothesis that ADF is modulated to minimize oxygen loss in severe aquatic hypoxia by measuring ADF and gas exchange, and by using CT scans to reveal possible trans-branchial shunt vessels. Contrary to our hypothesis, ADF does not modulate to prevent oxygen loss and despite no evident trans-branchial shunting, C. ornata loses only 3% of its aerially-sourced O2 while still excreting 79% of its CO2 production to the severely hypoxic water. We propose this is achieved by ventilatory control and by compensating the minor oxygen loss by extra aerial O2 uptake.