Anonymous
Favorite Answer
They have gills - gills work in water.
In the air, their gills dry out and stop working - the fish dies. Same effect as if you get water in your lungs. They stop working - you die.
There are fish that can survive out of water, for hours, days or sometimes weeks, but they have special breathing systems or ways to keep their gills wet to allow that.
Ian
Anonymous
Lack of lungs. Betta's and other Labyrinth fish can survive by breathing air above water therefore they can survive longer than a normal fish out of the water. As long as they're moist, Labyrinth fish may survive for a long time above water.
Anonymous
Why can't you breathe underwater? Their gills are made to extract oxygen from water.
Anonymous
we have lungs, and fish have gills. anything with both can breath on both.
Anna
same reason we can't breath underwater