Gill morphometry of the red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus

The structure and morphometry of the gills of the marine teleost, red drum, have been studied. The present analysis of gas exchange area of fish gills is one of the most intensive and the results are compared to less intense averaging methods. Based on the gill area estimates, red drum falls into the category of a fish of intermediate activity. Its gill clearly has an exchange area less than that of the tunas, but is slightly greater than that of trout or bass. The three components that contribute to total exchange area (filament length, lamellar density, and area of individual lamellae) are not all greater in species with a greater total exchange area. The best correlate is total filament length.