The bug
Drowning bubbles still appear on living mobs underwater, even when they have Water Breathing effect, making these particles pointless and misleading as the mob is actually breathing. This is also inconsistent with the player, who does not produce such particles.
To reproduce
Summon a living entity below water and wait for a few seconds. For example, use the command below.
/summon slime ~ ~ ~ {NoAI:1b, active_effects:[{id:"water_breathing", duration:10000}], Size:2}
I can confirm this behavior. This ticket may relate to MC-78314.