gill

gill

(gĭl)

n.

Zoology The respiratory organ of most aquatic animals that obtain oxygen from water, consisting of a filamentous structure of vascular membranes across which dissolved gases are exchanged.

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gilled adj.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

gill

1. the respiratory organ of aquatic animals. External gills, as in tadpoles, are produced by the embryonic ECTODERM; internal gills, as in fish, are developed from the pharynx and are thus endodermal (see ENDODERM). Gills are usually well supplied with blood vessels, and interchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place across the extensive surface area (see COUNTERCURRENT EXCHANGE). Gills also occur in many invertebrates, for example, in insects such as the caddis fly larva and molluscs such as oysters. Occasionally, unusual structures act as gills, for example, the walls of the rectum in certain dragonfly nymphs, water being pumped in and out via the anus.
2. the spore-carrying lamellae in basidiomycete fungi, located underneath the cap or ‘pileus’.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005