can fish drown in water?

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randommissy

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im having a debate with my 2 friends on MSN and one is saying that fish can drown and me and my friend Kristy disagree because if they have oxygen they will die so they cant drown but is that actually right or not? so can fish drown in water?
 
i wouldn't call it drowning, its like a human being in a room with no oxygen. they would "suffocate". if the fish dont have an air pump or oxygen in the water they can hypoxiate. basically suffocating.. high ammonia levels in the water also stop fish from breathing correctly.

So if you want to call it drowning... then yeah why not.

hope this helped with your debate
 
The water must have a certain level of dissolve oxygen which they use.

HOWEVER, even if there is virtually no oxygen in the water, they can pipe atmospheric oxygen and use it (that's why oxygen deprive fish try to pipe air from the top of the tank)

So, THEY CANT DROWN.
 
Top two answers are good, just to add that if you prevent the gills from working properly the fish will also drown. If a fish is pulled backwards in the water it will drown
 
Top two answers are good, just to add that if you prevent the gills from working properly the fish will also drown. If a fish is pulled backwards in the water it will drown
 
The term "drown" has a few meanings. One being " to die under water or other liquid of suffocation."

Now, if a fish has zero dissolved oxygen in it's water then it will die, hence yes it will drown. That is my view on it.
 
Yes, if there is no dissolved oxygen in the water the fish can drown.
Also, in the case of labyrinth fish such as the betta, if prevented from reaching the surface, no matter how much oxygen is present in the water, they can drown.
If a shark is prevented from moving in order to get water ot pass over it's gills it can drown as well.
Best of Luck!

EDIT: "When a fish is taken out of water, and exposed only to air, not to oxygen and hydrogen containing water, its gills are unable to control the oxygen intake, the delicate balance cannot be maintained, and the gills inhale a lethal overdose of oxygen. The fish essentially experiences death by "drowning."
So yeah they can drown.
And not all fish can breath atmosphric air, and most can't do it long term. Labyrinth fish are capable or breathing atmospheric air, but others aren't.
Fish like goldfish and most cat fish are capable of sacrificing stomache capacity in order to gulp air and process it in their capillary rich digestive system much like a set of lungs, but it is hard and wearing on the animal.
 
Drowning means suffocation from immersion in water. We know that fish do best when immersed in water, but if that water has no oxygen, then the fish will suffocate, and since they suffocated immersed in water, you might, by technical definition, say they have drowned.

Call it suffocation, call it drowning - the point is that if there is no oxygen in the water, fish will die. If there is oxygen in the water, they won't.
 
Drowning means suffocation from immersion in water. We know that fish do best when immersed in water, but if that water has no oxygen, then the fish will suffocate, and since they suffocated immersed in water, you might, by technical definition, say they have drowned.

Call it suffocation, call it drowning - the point is that if there is no oxygen in the water, fish will die. If there is oxygen in the water, they won't.
 
The term "drown" has a few meanings. One being " to die under water or other liquid of suffocation."

Now, if a fish has zero dissolved oxygen in it's water then it will die, hence yes it will drown. That is my view on it.
 
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