Can a fish drown?

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Yes. Simple Answer.

For a long argument read below:
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Actually YES. But they need water to live so their point ofview they drowned from air.

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Yeaaahhhhhhh





Okay, I don't know who wrote this answer but I'm breaking in here to say that they don't know what the hell they are talking about! Fish DO NOT use the oxygen component of water to get their oxygen. That involves a rather high energy reaction to break that molecular bond. There is oxygen (O₂)as well as other gasses dissolved in the water that their gills "capture" to introduce oxygen into their blood while releasing CO₂ (carbon dioxide) back into water. Just like our lungs do with air. Here's a better explanatin: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01419.htm

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Though deaths occur most often in small ponds that dry up (minus water). All the fish that live in the pond are crowded (dying of hunger)into the remaining water, where they cant use up all the oxygen in the water because oxygen is contained in the atmosphere and ponds are not sealed , they also die from over concentrations of air (like a fish out of water). Fish can also die if their gills are damaged in a collision with an underwater plant or in a fight with other sea creatures.

Weather temperature conditions also account for some deaths. For example, when some fish realize that oxygen supply in the water is getting very low because they're not in H2O, they rise to the surface and suck air into a sac-like organ called the air bladder but if its raining they may swallow a raindrop a cough a bit.

The fish can then take oxygen out of this air instead of directly out of the water. But in cold weather, when the surface of the water is frozen, the fish can't reach that air, and so drown or swim off (as fish do).


Wow! we just laughed at how my sister said a fish could drown :) thanks for the info !


Fish can't drown but the can suffocate and I'm going off of the first paragraph!!!!!
Now going off of the 4th paragraph there is a thing called hibernation that fish go into during winter. Some fish stay alive but overall fish can not drown only be suffocated

Actually the fish would be drowning as long as it stays submerged in water. For the definition of drowning is suffocation while being submerged in liquid.





FISH CAN DROWN!! if you grab them by their tails and drag them backwards. there :D

As a Marine Biologist, Fish CAN drown in water. I won't bother explaining, considering half of you googled this question as is. IF you really want to know more research and waste time finding different people arguing over this subject on forums, until you get a scholarly resource which will tell you, "..fish can drown.."


Okay, this is the guy that broke in the first time. I may not be a marine biologist but I will expound upon your answer anyway. Yes a fish could drown if there is no oxygen dissolved in the water for the fish to utilize.

First of all, when you take a fish out of water what happens?That's right, it dies cause it can't breathe.That is also know as drowning.You don't have to be in water to drown.

To Synphony: While you do not have to be in water to drown, you do have to have your lungs filled with a liquid that prevents you from absorbing oxygen. Reread the definition of drown:
http://mw4.m-w.com/dictionary/drown?show=0&t=1295725788

FISH CAN DROWN.TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WATER AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

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youre all retards ! who cares if fish cand rown or not ?

Umm, but who ever wrote the last answer IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE a retard. People care or not because they want to kbnow the truth. Fish CAN drown. See what happens when you take them out of the water.



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I'd say that a fish can't drown exactly but suffocate in the water. As they take in the water through their gills and "filter out" the oxygen. So if there was pure water with no oxygen then they'd take the water in as normal and just get no oxygen from it. As drowning is having a high capacity of water within the lungs and so not being able to breathe, hence why humans can drown on dry land if they have water pumped into their lungs (I can't actually think of an actual example here, as that would be a pretty sick thing to do!). So, yeah... Fish suffocate. (:

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First answer by Emdrgreg. Last edit by Emma Mae Bounds. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributorrecommended]. Question popularity: 27 [recommend question].