All the exposed fish appeared lethargic after exposure to cadmium chloride. The major clinical symptoms such as inappetance and ataxia appeared after 24-48 hours of exposure. At higher concentration of the cadmium chloride, the exposed fish showed erratic movements. The whole body oxygen uptake of the control fish remained at the same level during the entire period of experimentation. The whole body oxygen uptake of the exposed fishes decreased with the increase in exposure period and after 28th days of exposure, the whole body oxygen uptake declined significantly by 71.4% when compared to its control value. Partial recovery by 12.6% and 17.2% was recorded on 14th and 28th day of recovery, when compared to 28th day exposure value. With the increase in exposure period the percent decrease in oxygen uptake increased showing a positive correlation. The ventilation rate of the cadmium chloride exposed fish showed an initial increase followed by significant decrease at higher exposure periods. The O uptake in exposed brain, liver and muscle tissue slices declined on 28th day of exposure where a maximum of 2 50.81%, 71.76% and 72.06% decrease was marked respectively, when compared to the respective control values. Partial insignificant recovery was noted in all the three tissues tested. It may be concluded that cadmium was responsible for the depletion in respiration rate of the exposed fishes.