A fish has a heart with two main chambers, one atrium and one ventricle.

Blood leaving the ventricle goes first to the gill capillaries where gaseous exchange takes place. The gill capillaries converge into a vessel that carries the oxygenated blood to the body capillaries or systematic capillaries. In the systematic capillaries, oxygen diffuses into the tissues while carbon dioxide diffuses out of the tissues and into the capillaries.

The deoxygenated blood then returns to the atrium of the heart through the veins. Since the circulatory system of fish has only one circuit, that is, the blood goes to the gill capillaries and then the systemic capillaries, it is called a single closed circulatory system.

Gill capillaries

artery

heart
ventricle

atrium

Systemic capillaries

Mixed blood