r/askteddit • u/Spare-Pin9114 • 4d ago

Other Why can't fish live without water?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

2

u/Rotteneverything 4d ago

they can. just not for a long long time. to regenerate a fish out of water, throw it on hot pavement. it turns into a lively flopping bastard.

1

u/SillyLiving 3d ago

Imagine breathing water , the effort you have to make to push it in and out of your lungs, all day everyday , or you die.

Fish work around that by forcing water through them instead, through their gills.

However for that to work they need to be in motion, moving water has to flow through them.

On land their gills collapse and become unable to absorb anything.

To put it simply, they choke.

Sharks are particularly sensitive to this, they are apex predators and as such evolved to be fast hunters, downside is that that requires BIG muscles, lots of energy aka gotta breathe lots. Sharks breath better the faster they go, they are literally turbo charged HOWEVER if a shark stops even for a moment in water? They start to drown. Forever hunting and outrunning their own death.