Why is Oxygen Necessary for Life?
Oxygen is used for cellular respiration, which is necessary for life and leads to an organism gaining the energy that the organism will needs to survive. Cellular respiration happens in the mitochondria and is the process where glucose and oxygen are used to make ATP. Cellular respiration starts by the organism taking oxygen and glucose. Once the organism has received these things their body take them and use them to make ATP. The ATP stores energy and once the ATP is broken down this energy is released throughout the body.
Mussel Respiratory System
The zebra mussel lives under water, restricting it from being able to have lungs and breath in and out, freely, like humans and other organisms. Mussels are obviously surrounded by water, allowing it to just easily take it in its gills without any effort. First, the water goes through their gills that then strains particles out all the water through the ctenidium. After the water was separated from the particles, their gils take all of the oxygen from the water that is then distributed throughout the organism through its blood. (1)