OXYGEN & THE HUMAN FISH

OXYGEN & THE HUMAN FISH

Oxygen & the human fish,  is a bit of a play on words because…. We humans are a considerably “improved fish” in many many ways, but, when it comes to oxygen we are also in a league consisting of billions and billions of gradually improved creatures (from whales to hummingbirds) from the point of view of having relatively unhindered access to the oxygen in the atmosphere so as long as the percentage of oxygen remains the same at 20.95% Oxygen or at least at approximately 21% .

At this percentage (21%) a “normal improved fish like us” can draw from the moist tissue within our lungs enough oxygen to take care of the various needs throughout our system of various tissues.

Humans have two lungs, with the left being divided into two lobes and the right into three lobes. Together, the lungs contain approximately 1500 miles (2,400 km) of airways and 300 to 500 million alveoli, having a total surface area of about 70 square meters, 2 in adults — roughly the same area as one side of a tennis court.[1] Furthermore, if all of the capillaries that surround the alveoli were unwound and laid end to end, they would extend for about 620 miles.

So if we spread out our lungs and laid them flat they would cover approximately the area of a tennis court.   Our skin however only covers about two square meters (about the size of the average dining room table.)

The function of the lungs is to create a large surface area where air is divided into the 350 million small spheres that are in the average “healthy lungs.”  This surface contact of air containing 21% oxygen with the tennis court size  area of the lungs allows our blood to adsorb through the moisture on the surface of all of the 300 to 500 million alveoli, by bringing our blood up close enough to the moisture on the surface of the alveoli to allow the haemoglobin in the capillaries to capture a portion of the oxygen already dissolved in this moisture and carry the oxygen out of the alveoli by transporting the blood out to the rest of the cells in the body that are using the oxygen.

As far as I can tell the function of the haemoglobin is essentially the same in the actual fish as it is in the Human Fish. In the gills which create enormous amounts of surface area by being like very thin plates layered, layer on top of layer of tiny plates all being fed by blood being forced through tiny capillaries attached to each plate.  The total effect is to  create as much contact with the water containing the oxygen as possible.  In other words the larger the surface exposure of the gills to water with dissolved oxygen the more efficiency of movement of the dissolved oxygen into the haemoglobin and subsequent transport to the cells in the fish.

We “healthy” human “fish” are able to function very well in the atmosphere of   21% oxygen, but when the amount of oxygen plummets as it does in large stores such as home depot, wall mart, lowes or k-mart with inadequate ventilation and an oxygen meter is used to determine the percent of oxygen in the stores we will see the oxygen meter plunge to 15% or less.

In these situations an abnormal person like myself will feel the difference because the lower amount of oxygen requires more work to extract the needed oxygen from the air.  I have had 3 way heart surgery and several strokes which means I have a diminished capacity for removing oxygen in each breath I take and a 20-30% reduction of oxygen in the under ventilated atmosphere within the store require a lot more air, spread out in micro thin layers in alveoli in the lungs to acquire the needed oxygen  from the diminished air.

For me this means angina and considerable effort to move my legs and arms and so an electric cart becomes a necessity within the store but as soon as I get outside (with the normal 21% oxygen) then I am back to normal

(for me. )

So this “Human Fish,” “me” is reminded how real fish are required to move so much more water over their gills just to remain normal and when the oxygen level drops to 7 ppm from 10 ppm they must expend a good bit more energy and move 30% more water over their gills just to exist in their watery enviourment.

The skittering option becomes even more pivotal to survival in the same way my leaving the inside of a store that is under ventilated to the outside where the oxygen in the atmosphere is closer to 21%.  The electric cart may provide me with more energy so I did not have to expend that energy just to move my heavy self around the store.  Providing me with an electric chair may not have saved my life but it felt like it.

I first got tuned into these possibilities when I had a conversation with some one on how much the levels of oxygen can vary in different locations such as a green forrest (22% ) and and underpass on the california expressway behind a diesel truck (12%.)

I wonder how many people die from heart failure (over stressing their oxygen delivery system) in the various low oxygen levels (12%) compared to the high oxygen levels of  (22%).

Related Posts

1. OXYGEN & AQUATIC LIFE
2. Skittering and Snails Two ways Of Catching Or Avoiding low Oxygen in a pond
3. SKITTERING COMPARED TO TWITTERING
4. These fish could be saved-MALAYSIA - A total of 117 caged-fish breeders of Sri Tujuh lagoon lost almost RM500,000 when their fishes were found dead earlier this week
5. The Magical U-Tube: The Creation and Understanding of Incredible U-Tubes That Dissolve Oxygen For Less Than Any Other System

About the author

MIKE SIPE

I am 70 as of August 4th 2010.  I have spent over 41 years Breeding tilapia, improving tilapia gene lines creating Red tilapia, and improving the body form of "pennyfish" from 24% in 1963 to 50% in 2009. I have pioneered and installed high oxygen intensive aquaculture production  systems.   We (TILAPIA AQUACULTURE INTERNATIONAL) built the first u-tube used to control oxygen and co2 levels in aquaculture.   We can dissolve up to  800 parts per million parts of water and thereby control oxygen levels in growing situations. ( THIS IS WHAT MAKES OUR INTENSIVE CULTURE SYSTEM WORK SO WELL) We have designed hatchery systems to produce thousand of pennyfish fingerlings a day using breeder cages.   We have helped to establish the production of over two billion pounds per year of our tilapia in over 50 locations in North America, Mexico, South America, Central America, Kenya Africa, and Saudi Aribea in the Middle east.  Our goal is to help people with the production of tilapia necessary to *feed everyone* in the world a well balanced nutritious* diet, and to restore the forest of the world. If you wish to talk with me my phone number is 877 217 7006. Please feel free to call me during normal Eastern daylight times. At this particular time I believe that I have more hands on experience in building , designing and running u-tubes to lower the cost and risk for growing all kinds of Aquaculture by 10% - 20% and the cost of dissolving oxygen in an intensive system by 50- 85%. The safety issue is by far the most important issue because having complete control over the oxygen level in a tank helps to assure he safety of the crop and the cost. Another area where I have extensive experience is on what is required to create new characteristics in a gene line. We can take a tilapia that is black and turn it to a brilliant red or take a gene line and select for various body form changes or various internal genetics needed needed to manufacture certain expensive biochemical products..such as Heparin which is an important molecule in haemoglobin that plays a role in clotting blood. A good breeding and selection system could virtually increase the production of almost any biological chemical system in the tilapia.

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