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Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 23:06:43 +22305714 (HST)
From: Richard Pyle <deepreef@bi*.bi*.Ha*.Or*>
Subject: Re: More bent fish
To: "A.Appleyard" <A.APPLEYARD@fs*.mt*.um*.ac*.uk*>
Cc: techdiver@terra.net

Fish don't get bent in nature; at least not in the ocean. The dissolved
gas in the fish's blood and tissues is essentially at equillibrium with
the water.  The dissolved gas in the water is at MOST 1 ATA, regardless of
the depth. Fish can get intravenous gaseous bubbles (that often collect in
the fins and eyes) in an aquarium if there is some sort of cavitation in
the pump/plumbing/filtration system that causes super-saturation of gas in
the aquarium water (I understand this also happens to salmon at dam
by-passes).  The only barotrauma fish get from being brought up
quickly from great depths is that their swim-bladders (a fish's BCD)
expand and crush other organs. As far as I know (I'm a reef-fish guy, not
a halibut-guy), halibut lack swim bladders.

An interesting aside: people have historically tried to deal with the
swim-bladder expansion problem by building hyperbaric chambers to bring
fish to the surface from deep water. Trouble is, most use gas in direct
contact with the water to pressurize the chamber, which means the fish DO
get "real" bends.

Aloha,
Rich

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