Sounds fishy to me.......... Is it Gill the breathing organ or Gill the weight measurement?
A
gill (
i/ˈɡɪl/) is a
respiratory organ found in many
aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved
oxygen from
water and excretes
carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as
hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist. The microscopic structure of a gill presents a large
surface area to the external environment.
Many microscopic aquatic animals, and some larger but inactive ones, can absorb adequate oxygen through the entire surface of their bodies, and so can respire adequately without a gill. However, more complex or more active aquatic organisms usually require a gill or gills.
[citation needed]
Gills usually consist of thin filaments of
tissue, branches, or slender, tufted
processes that have a highly folded surface to increase
surface area. A high surface area is crucial to the
gas exchange of aquatic organisms, as water contains only a small fraction of the
dissolved oxygen that
air does. A
cubic meter of air contains about 250
grams of oxygen at
STP. The concentration of oxygen in water is lower than air and it diffuses more slowly. In
fresh water, the dissolved oxygen content is approximately 8 cm
3/L compared to that of air which is 210 cm
3/L.
[1] Water is 777 times more dense than air and is 100 times more viscous.
[1] Oxygen has a diffusion rate in air 10,000 times greater than in water.
[1] The use of sac-like lungs to remove oxygen from water would not be efficient enough to sustain life.
[1] Rather than using lungs, "[g]asesous exchange takes place across the surface of highly vascularised gills over which a one-way current of water is kept flowing by a specialised pumping mechanism. The density of the water prevents the gills from collapsing and lying on top of each other, which is what happens when a fish is taken out of water."
[1]
With the exception of some aquatic
insects, the filaments and lamellae (folds) contain
blood or
coelomic fluid, from which gases are exchanged through the thin walls. The blood carries oxygen to other parts of the body. Carbon dioxide passes from the blood through the thin gill tissue into the water. Gills or gill-like organs, located in different parts of the body, are found in various groups of aquatic animals, including
mollusks,
crustaceans, insects, fish, and
amphibians.
The
gill (pronounced
[1] i/ˈdʒɪl/) is a
unit of measurement for volume equal to a quarter of a
pint.
[2] It is no longer in common use, except in regard to the volume of
alcoholic spirits measures, but it is kept alive by the occasional reference, such as in the
cumulative song "
The Barley Mow".
[3] It is also referenced in FX's animated cartoon "Archer", in both Episodes "Blood Test" (Season 2, Episode 3).
[4] and "Heart of Archness: Part Three" (Season 3, Episode 3).
[5] The word also appeared in a 2013 edition of the BBC TV programme QI, when it was mispronounced by show host Stephen Fry as gill (i.e. as in gill of a fish)
Imperial gill
United States customary gill
1 US gill | ≡ 4 US fl oz |
| ≡ 1⁄32 US gallon |
| ≡ 1⁄4 US pint |
| ≡ 1⁄2 US cup |
| ≡ 8 tablespoons |
| ≡ 24 teaspoons |
| ≡ 32 US fluid drams |
| ≡ 77⁄32 in3 |
| ≡ 118.29411825 ml[7] |
| ≈ 118 ml |
| ≈ 5⁄6 imperial gills |
In
Great Britain, the standard single measure of spirits in a
pub was
1⁄
6 gill (23.7 ml) in England, and
1⁄
5 gill (28.4 ml) in
Scotland; after
metrication this was replaced by either 25 or 35 ml (0.176- or 0.246-gill) measures (landlords can choose which one to serve). The
1⁄
4 gill was previously the most common measure in Scotland, and still remains as the standard measure in pubs in Ireland. In southern England, it is also called a noggin. In northern England, however, the large noggin is used, which is two gills. In some areas, a gill came to mean half a pint for both beer and milk.
[8]
In
Ireland, the standard spirit measure was historically
1⁄
4 gill. In the Republic of Ireland, it still retains this value, though it is now legally specified in metric units as 35.5 ml.
A convenient method to remember the conversion from gill to litres is that 1 imperial gill = π - 3 litres, accurate to 3 d.p.