The Earth is amazing. Three people are trying to find something new out of our planet Earth, but if you take a little bit of time discovering a little bit about our planet Earth, you will discover things that will surprise you, and you won’t believe that it is real and how this is possible. We can say that the things you will know will almost sound impossible. Today we will talk about a fact that will surprise you and make you think how this is possible. There is an aquatic living being that keeps moving. And in their lifetime, if they stop moving, they will suffocate. Another surprising fact is that they cannot close their eyes lifelong. Also, they keep their mouth opened most of the time.
Before directly moving to the name of this surprising living being, let’s talk more about this amazing creature of Earth which almost sounds like an alien being. Because we all know we all need air to reach our body, and most of the living beings on Earth sleep. And for sleeping, we have to stop somewhere and decrease our movements. But what about this amazing creature who always keeps moving and cannot stop? Because if it stops, it will die.
Which animal keeps moving always consistently with open mouth and cannot close its eyelid for a lifetime?
We are talking about a fish that you all know. It’s an amazing creature that keeps moving consistently, cannot stop, cannot close its eyes for sleeping, and keeps its mouth open most of the time. This is none other than tuna fish. You all know about this fish, and most people have already eaten this fish. It is one of the most popular fishes worldwide and also a very costly fish. Everybody knows about this fish, but none of you have ever tried to explore more about this living being, and probably you may be surprised after knowing this.
The surprising fact about this fish is that it never stops moving. It cannot close its eyelids and always keeps its mouth open.
Do tuna fish never stop swimming?
Yes, it is correct that tuna fish never stop swimming. They keep moving consistently, and we know they are one of the fastest-swimming fish. They do this because of their special abilities and special adaptation in their body. We all know that tuna fish are very fast-moving fish in the ocean which disappear within a few seconds.
Tuna fish cannot pump water through their gills. That’s why they need water current always passing through their mouth and gills so they can get the oxygen necessary for their body and release carbon dioxide gas. For their high energy movement, they need more oxygen. They have a special type of breathing mechanism which is called ram ventilation.
In ram ventilation, the water keeps moving through the gills, and the gills filter the oxygen and release carbon dioxide. They do not have the pumping mechanism of water, so they need the water to keep flowing through their gills. This is why they always keep their mouth open so the water current should pass directly through their gills and provide the necessary oxygen to the fish.
RAM ventilation breathing mechanism
This is a special kind of breathing mechanism in which the fish have to keep moving for breathing. This type of breathing mechanism is generally found in tuna fish and sharks. Some species have the special ability to switch to the buccal pump breathing mechanism, in which they can pump water through their gills and do not need to keep moving. But some fishes like tuna fish cannot switch to any other method of breathing. They only have the option to breathe through the ram ventilation mechanism, and in this mechanism, they need to keep moving always to get oxygen.
That’s why even while sleeping, they do not stop and keep moving with open mouth.
Can you hope so that you have understood the breathing mechanism of ram ventilation? Based on this, there are two types of ram ventilation:
- Obligate ram ventilation
In this type, the fish do not have the option to switch to buccal pumping. They only have the option to keep moving and force the water current through their gills so they can get oxygen. This kind of breathing mechanism is mostly found in sharks and tuna fish. These fish have to keep moving consistently without stopping. Even if they are resting or sleeping, they need to keep moving. Such kind of fish is tuna fish. - Facultative ram ventilation
This kind of breathing mechanism is found in those species who can switch to the buccal pump method when needed. They do not need to keep their mouth open or keep moving always. They can breathe by switching to the buccal pump method.
Do tuna fish sleep?
This is a quite complicated question because we do not have enough studies about this. For humans and many mammals, sleep is closing eyes and resting at night. But in the case of fishes, we cannot see that because they do not sleep like us. Some fishes have eyelids and they close their eyes, but tuna fish keep moving always and never stop, so we cannot say they sleep in our way.
But definitely, they may be taking rest because all living beings need rest. When they are resting, they generally glide in a slow autopilot movement. But another amazing fact about tuna fish is that they do not have eyelids, so they cannot close their eyes.
Do tuna fish cannot close their eyelids?
This fact is true. Tuna fish cannot close their eyes because they do not have eyelids like us. So we can say that they keep their eyes open always.
