Posted by Carol Ried on March 23, 2006

Q: Are the respiration rates of large goldfish slower than small goldfish?

Habitat: swamp

State: Kentucky

Habitat: swamp

A: What an excellent question! I was quite sure what the answer was but wanted to check it out before I shared. Yes indeed, larger goldfish do have a slower rate of respiration than smaller ones. Of course, if you compare a mouse with an elephant, you see a dramatic difference in respiration but that's not fair - two different species. So, I checked out the respiration rates of newborn humans and adult humans. Newborn babies respire as often as 50 times a minute while adults typically in the 12 to 20 range. I can't give you details, but in general, larger animals respire/breathe more slowly than smaller ones.

> This would make a nice mini-experiment if you have children or are in a school environment. All you'd have to do is have a large and a small goldfish in the same container and count their respiration rates over several different periods. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( March 23, 2006)