According to the World Health Organization, approximately 236,000 people drown each year. Of course, humans aren’t the only ones drowning. Also dogs, snakes, birds and many other species can drown when they get trapped in the water and have no way to escape. But have you ever wondered if marine animals can suffocate in water?
“Marine animals also need oxygen to live, they just live off dissolved oxygen, while we get oxygen from the air,” explained Frances Withrow, a marine scientist at Oceana , an environmental conservation and protection organization.
Most fish breathe when water passes through their gills. But if the gills are damaged or the water can’t get through them, the fish can suffocate. Technically they don’t drown, because they don’t inhale the water, but they die from lack of oxygen.
Gill damage
Fish can suffer gill damage from some types of hooks. However, they could also suffer from a disease. Pathogens, primarily bacteria, adhere to the gills, blocking them from filtering oxygen from the water or degrading them to the point where they no longer function.
“It’s like we have a really serious respiratory disease, ” said the researcher. Adding that “it makes the animal work much harder to breathe.”
On the other hand, although some fish are able to pump water through their gills while at rest, many fish need to swim constantly in order for the water to flow past them. Therefore, if they get caught in a net, they will most likely suffocate.
Sharks, dolphins and whales
Sharks need their fins to swim and breathe. Some fishermen catch sharks and then remove their fins (to make shark fin soup). Then they throw the shark into the water because the rest of the animal is not valuable in the market.
This activity is quite cruel, since the shark cannot swim when they return it to the sea. Therefore, predators will eat it, starve, or suffocate.
Other marine animals, like turtles and dolphins, get air the same way we do: breathing it from the air. But they can only do so when they surface.
