The Operculum Movement

of Fish on Different Water

Temperature

INTRODUCTIONOne of the fish structure is its

operculum. According to the Resources for Biology Education by D G Mackean, “The operculum is a bony structure covering and protecting the gills in teleosts. It plays an important part in the breathing mechanism.” Animals, such as fish, breathing in the water consume dissolved oxygen.

Objective/Problem

•What is the effect of the water temperature to the operculum

movement of the fish?

HYPOTHESIS

There is no significant effect of the water temperature to the operculum movement of the fish.

There is a significant effect of the water temperature to the operculum movement of the fish.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials:

1 Liter container (2)Mercury ThermometerTap Water IceTimerFish (2)

METHODS:

3. Ice was added on the other 1000 ml container with 900 ml tap water. Again, using the mercury thermometer, the temperature was measured and waited for it to reach the temperature below 10 ͦC.4. The other fish was placed on the container with ice and the operculum movement of the fish was recorded for 2 minutes.5. The average number of operculum movement as calculated for each of the 2 temperatures was recorded.

Different Temperatures

Fish 126 C ͦ

Fish 29 C ͦ

RESULTS

FISH TEMPERATURE TIME (MINS.) NUMBER OF OPERCULUM MOVEMENT

TRIAL 1 TRIAL 2 TRIAL 3

1 26 C 2 190 ͦ194 192 2 9 C 2 0 ͦ0 0

Table 1.1: THE RECORDED NUMBER OF OPERCULUM MOVEMENTS OF THE FISH

DISCUSSION Based on the results of the experiment,

it has been observed that the number of operculum movement of the fish in the cold water is lower than the tap water. When the fish 1 was placed in the tap water, its operculum movement moved faster but when the fish 2 was placed in the cold water, its operculum movement definitely stopped and the fish almost died.

According to the Discovery of Estuarine Environments (DOEE), “The amount of dissolved oxygen that the water can hold depends on the temperature and salinity of the water. Cold water can hold more dissolved oxygen than warm water and fresh water can hold more dissolved oxygen than salt water. So the warmer and saltier the water, the less dissolved oxygen there can be.”

CONCLUSION:

It has been found out that the increase in water temperature is the decrease in dissolved oxygen. Therefore, the fish will have to take more oxygen if it is placed in warm water. So, if the fish is placed in cold water the operculum movement of the fish will stop because cold water has more dissolved oxygen than the warmer water.

REFERENCES •http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/physical/choxy1.htm •http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8488069•http://sockyee.hubpages.com/hub/understanding-fish-behavior•http://www.biology-resources.com/fish-01.html•http://www.thegloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/fish.jpg•http://www.jaytecglass.co.uk/wp-]content/uploads/2011/03/Beaker200ml.jpg•http://www.bu.edu/today/files/2008/04/tapwater.jpg•http://bnfitdc.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/timer-icon.png•http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BwQ-rtG5gq8/UQae7_eXPzI/AAAAAAAAAA0/2lPrtliiHHU/s1600/lab-thermometer.jpg•http://www.iglooice.co.uk/images/icecube2.jpg

AUTHORS:

LIM. Emmalaine

Mae R.

PETALCORIN,Jebiela Carla

DONOSO,Flora Mae

G.

CONCHA,Nemuel J.