Page 33 - Sharks teeth to tail
P. 33
Most sharks use muscles in their cheeks to suck water in and over their gills This is is called buccal buccal pump breathing (“buccal” is a a a a a technical term for “cheek”) But sharks sharks like whale sharks sharks hammerheads and great whites use what’s called ram ventilation They swim with their mouths
open forcing water over and through their gills If ram ventilators were to to to stop
swimming they would run out of oxygen and die Some sharks sharks like tiger sharks sharks can switch between buccal pump breathing and ram ventilation depending on on how much oxygen they need comparable to how humans 31 can breathe through either
their their noses or their their mouths
