BIOLOGY OF ORGANISMS (BIO2219)

Problem based learning

Group members name, I.D Number:

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2.
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Pavethere Devan Kanesan (I15007344)

Rama Saeed Subeh (I15007376)
Visallinne Ravichandar (I15007352)
Fatima Mohamed Yousif (I15007606)
Vimukthi Bandara Jayasundara (I15007791)

Instructors name: Dr. Adura Binti Mohd Adnan

Date Submitted:

Since the beginning of time all organisms have developed an internal environment similar to
their surrounding environment in order for them to survive and for life to continue. You see,
fish hasnt always been so diverse, in fact as all other organisms inhabiting earth it went
through numerous stages to get to where it is now. By natural selection and evolution, when

Problem based learning BIO2219

changes in geological location and temperature occurred, these fish learnt to adapt to their
new surroundings. And with time, this evolutionary adaptation led to speciation and the
variation we now see in fish. One of those adaptive mechanisms was on maintaining the fluid
balance of their tissues that requires the relative concentrations of water and solutes be kept
within fairly narrow limit. Homeostasis thus requires osmoregulation, the general term for
the processes by which fishes control solute concentrations and balance water gain and loss.
A number of mechanisms for water and solute control have arisen during evolution, reflecting
the varied and often severe osmoregulatory challenges presented by an fishs surroundings.
So heres an example of a situation on how fishs bodys mechanism for the uptake and intake
of substances affects its condition.
The freshwater fish was said to be struggling after a certain period of time after being placed
on top of the space heater, thus proves the changes in temperature actually causes a threat to
the fish. The cold temperature of the surrounding has been misinterpreted and assumed that
the temperature of the water would also be identical. Additionally, the temperature of the
water, even in cold surroundings has proved to have kept the fish alive and healthy but the
change of surroundings has resulted into the suffering of the fish. In another effort onto
saving the fishs life, we tried to change the fish from the freshwater tank to a salt water tank
which then results into the fishs death. This incident has occurred because the freshwater fish
is known to be living in a constant threat of getting waterlogged as diffusion of gases only
occurs through their gills and they do not drink salt water like marine fish but have to get rid
of the excess water in their system all by themselves. Therefore, the freshwater fish would
actually gain water by osmosis across their gills and the body surface. This would result the
fish with no need to drink water. But then again, they actively transport salts into the blood
across the membrane of the gills. They also tend to eliminate excess water by producing a
very high quantity of dilute (hypotonic) urine and discharge them as a quantity that is equal to
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Problem based learning BIO2219

one-third of their body weight each day. This action shows that a vertebrates kidney is highly
recommended onto producing dilute urine.
Osmoregulation process can be well-defined through the breathing mechanism of both
freshwater fish and saltwater fish. This process is called Osmoregulation. Before answering
the question, well go in depth a bit into the diffusion, osmosis, and osmoregulation that
occurs in both fish individually. Starting with osmosis, this process plays a major role in the
lives of so many biological organisms. It depends on the cytosol and the cell membrane, and
doesnt require energy. If two solutions have different molarity (concentration), meaning on
one side of the cell the molecules, in this case salt, have a higher concentration than the fluid,
mostly water, than on the other side, which has less salt, and more water, the water molecules
will diffuse through the permeable cell membrane into or out of the cell. The water will
diffuse from the solution with less concentration to the solution with higher concentration.
This net movement continues until the solutions reach equilibrium, when both solutions have
similar concentrations.This explains either these saltwater and freshwater fish compiles off
different breathing mechanism or the way the diffusion of oxygen occurring through the
freshwater and saltwater by their gills. Marine fish or also known as the saltwater fish is to be
proved to have to retain water and excrete salt by a specific occurrence. Moreover, marine
fishes also have different osmoregulation adaptations. This however, would enable them into
tolerating the high salt concentration of the environment (hypertonic), in which this case is
the marine water that they live in. As the freshwater fish are known to possess a far different
osmoregulatory adaptations compared to the marine fish, they are known to be covered in
scales and there is a layer of mucus that is always present and produced by the skin in order
to keep the water from passing through the body of the fish. This layer of mucus is also
known to be silky and slippery with a very unpleasant odor. As mentioned above and
following the natural selection theory, the freshwater fish has gone through adaptations but
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still is in the constant danger of becoming waterlogged and die. Summing up, the main organ
for both the excretory and osmoregulation process in fish and other vertebrates is the kidney.
In addition, the concentration of salts in fresh water is very low as much as 1000 ppm
compared to 10 000 - 35 000 ppm in sea water and would not be a threat to the freshwater
fish.
On a vice versa situation, if we took the salt water fish and placed them in a fresh water tank ,
the salt water fish would die. Different types of fish are provided with certain body
mechanisms and certain body composition that helps them adapt to their aquatic
environment, hence enabling them to better survive, and reproduce. In marine fish, for
example, the extra salt is emanated from their bodies in a salt concentrated environment. On
the other hand, fresh-water fish reserve the salt in their bodies in a low salt concentrated
environment. These fish are called stenohaline, due to their ability to survive in only one type
of environment. The two major body parts that aid them in this, are the kidneys and the gills.
These organs are responsible for the bodys response mechanism in an attempt to maintain a
homeostatic levels of water. Basically it is a process of regulating water, in order to maintain
fluids balance within a cell in relation to their surroundings, the balance in which the water in
both sides of the cell is not too concentrated (in this case in salt) or diluted. As mentioned
earlier, marine fish have to get rid of the excess salt in their body in order to survive in a salt
concentrated environment. Water and salt enter the fishs body through the mouth, but water
is soon lost through osmosis, from the gills and a small amount in the urine into the salt
water. The urine produced by the fishs kidney is high concentrated in salt with a lesser
amount of fluid. So the fish has to replace the lost water through osmosis again.
Therefore, when a salt water fish is transferred into fresh water, and since the water outside
has less salt concentration, the water movement will be from outside (fresh water) to inside

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the cells of the marine fish, resulting in the cells to swell up and lyse. And thats the reason
why a marine fish would die when placed in fresh water.

Reference list:
Solomon Berg Martin. (2008). Biology : International Edition. Page 1039. Brooks/Cole
Cengage Learning
McGraw-Hill. (2011). Concepts of Biology : International Edition. Page 668. Mc-Graw Hill
Publications.
Freeman. (2008). Biological Science : International Edition. Pages 935-938. Pearson
Publications.
http://www.course-notes.org/Biology/Outlines/Chapter_44_Osmoregulation_and_Excretion
http://www.kitsforkids.com/blog/2011/01/why-cant-saltwater-fish-live-in-fresh-water/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/biology/genetics_adaptation/maintaining_water_bal
ance/revision/2/
http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/vertebratefishevolution.pdf
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-some-fish-normally/

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