Bowfin, like other physostomes such as bichirs (Polypteridae), gars (Lepisosteidae), and the lungfish (Dipnoi), are capable of bimodal respiration. They can extract oxygen from the water when breathing through their gills, and can also break the water's surface to breathe or gulp air through a small pneumatic duct connected from their foregut to the gas bladder. When performing low-level physical activity, bowfin obtain more than half of their oxygen from breathing air. Bowfin have two distinct air-breathing mechanisms used to ventilate the gas bladder. Type I air breaths are consistent with the action of exhale-inhale stimulated by aerial or aquatic hypoxia to regulate O2 gas exchange; type II air breaths are by inhalation alone which is believed to regulate gas bladder volume for buoyancy control. Bimodal respiration helps bowfin survive and maintain their metabolic rate in hypoxic conditions. The rate of air breathing is higher in darkness, when the fish is more active.