Buccal pumping

Buccal pumping is "breathing with one's cheeks": a method of ventilation used in respiration in which the animal moves the floor of its mouth in a rhythmic manner that is externally apparent.

There are two methods of buccal pumping, defined by the number of movements of the floor of the mouth needed to complete both inspiration and expiration.

Four-stroke buccal pumping is used by some basal ray-finned fish and aquatic amphibians such as Xenopus and Amphiuma.

The nostrils are then closed, the glottis opened, and the floor of mouth raised, forcing the air into the lungs for gas exchange.

This method of ventilation is inefficient, but is nonetheless used by all air-breathing amphibians and gular pumping is utilized to a varying extent by various reptile species.