ELI5, if you get an injury underwater (say in the ocean) that opens the skin and bleeds, what stops your body from intaking water?

Question

ELI5, if you get an injury underwater (say in the ocean) that opens the skin and bleeds, what stops your body from intaking water?

In: 1476

Answer 1

You might gasp or start breathing kind of heavily from shock or blood loss as a trauma response/reflex, which would be an intake of water. I think some other people here have mentioned that your body’s own blood pressure tends to keep fluid from rushing into your body itself through the wound. But if, for instance, you’re a large white sperm whale and Captain Ahab’s harpoon has pierced you, there is some water that the body “intakes” through the entry wound of the harpoon. Then there’s the question of “is the body just the boundaries defined by the flesh,” which is “kinda?”