Vertebrate vascular system

Humans, birds, and mammals have a four-chambered heart that completely separates oxygen-rich and oxygen-depleted blood, as is shown in Figure 10. Fish have a two-chambered heart in which a single-loop circulatory pattern takes blood from the heart to the gills and then to the body. Amphibians have a three-chambered heart with two atria and one ventricle. A loop from the heart goes to the pulmonary capillary beds, where gas exchange occurs. Blood then is returned to the heart. Blood exiting the ventricle is diverted, some to the pulmonary circuit, some to systemic circuit. The disadvantage of the three-chambered heart is the mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Some reptiles have partial separation of the ventricle. Other reptiles, plus, all birds and mammals, have a four-chambered heart, with complete separation of both systemic and pulmonary circuits.til see Me again