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Branchiostegal lung

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Branchiostegal lung

A branchiostegal lung is a respiration organ

Respiration organ

Respiration organs are used by most, or all, animals to exchange the gases necessary for their life function known as respiration . These organs come in many forms, some of them apparently having independently evolved:...
used by some air-breathing arthropods. It is one of the most significant adaptations of some crab

Crab

Crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax....
s and hermit crab

Hermit crab

Hermit crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea . They are not closely related to true crabs. Hermit crabs are quite commonly seen in the intertidal zone, for example in tide pools....
s such as coconut crab

Coconut crab

The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is the largest land-living arthropod in the world and is probably at the limit of how big terrestrial animals with exoskeletons can get under the prevailing conditions....
s to their terrestrial habitats.

The branchiostegal (gill) tissue is supported by folds or other mechanisms to increase surface area

Surface area

Surface area is how much exposed area an object has. It is expressed in square units. If an object has flat Face , its surface area can be calculated by adding together the areas of its faces....
and are of a similar tissue to that normally found in gills. In this case, the lung is more suited to the absorption of oxygen from air, rather than water.

Instead of branchiostegal lungs, some terrestrial hermit crabs (Coenobita and Birgus) possess multiple gills and small lungs, with other varieties of gas diffusion methods supporting the transition from aquatic to terrestrial dwelling.

The developmental shift from water diffusion "gills" to air perfusion "lungs" may have been related to the need for reduce rates of water loss in air.

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Encyclopedia

A branchiostegal lung is a respiration organ

Respiration organ

Respiration organs are used by most, or all, animals to exchange the gases necessary for their life function known as respiration . These organs come in many forms, some of them apparently having independently evolved:...
used by some air-breathing arthropods. It is one of the most significant adaptations of some crab

Crab

Crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax....
s and hermit crab

Hermit crab

Hermit crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea . They are not closely related to true crabs. Hermit crabs are quite commonly seen in the intertidal zone, for example in tide pools....
s such as coconut crab

Coconut crab

The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is the largest land-living arthropod in the world and is probably at the limit of how big terrestrial animals with exoskeletons can get under the prevailing conditions....
s to their terrestrial habitats.

The branchiostegal (gill) tissue is supported by folds or other mechanisms to increase surface area

Surface area

Surface area is how much exposed area an object has. It is expressed in square units. If an object has flat Face , its surface area can be calculated by adding together the areas of its faces....
and are of a similar tissue to that normally found in gills. In this case, the lung is more suited to the absorption of oxygen from air, rather than water.

Instead of branchiostegal lungs, some terrestrial hermit crabs (Coenobita and Birgus) possess multiple gills and small lungs, with other varieties of gas diffusion methods supporting the transition from aquatic to terrestrial dwelling.

The developmental shift from water diffusion "gills" to air perfusion "lungs" may have been related to the need for reduce rates of water loss in air.

See also

Gill
Gill

A gill is an anatomical structure found in many aquatic ecosystem organisms. It is a respiration organ whose function is the extraction of oxygen from water and the excretion of carbon dioxide....
Lung
Lung

The lung is the essential respiration organ in air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located in the chest on either side of the heart....