How to Breathe Both on Land and Under the SEA

The popular image of a mermaid is a half-fish, half-human creature breathing fine above and below the surface. The only real-life analogy to this are the amphibians - frogs, toads and salamanders.

But here lies the snag. Mermaids are often portrayed as marine while there are no species of amphibians capable of breathing the salty seawater. In order for the mermaid to breathe easily in air and in seawater, we need to speculate a species of amphibian who evolves major measurements to still breathe fine in the air but also tolerate the saltiness of the sea. What changes would I need so that any amphibious animal can breathe both air and seawater?

For the sake of this argument, don't bring up lungfish, mudskippers and tarpon, for although they do breathe air, the circumstances are very limited.

posted over 8 years ago

JohnWDailey‭

6 reputation 224 0 1 0