If a healthy freshwater fish is placed in saltwater, the fish
becomes dehydrated and dies
becomes bloated and dies
suffers from microbial infection and dies
experiences no problem
Answer is Right!
Answer is Wrong!
This question was previously asked in
UPSC CAPF – 2011
When a healthy freshwater fish is placed in saltwater, it moves into a hypertonic environment, where the solute concentration outside is much higher than inside its body. This causes water to move *out* of the fish’s body into the surrounding saltwater by osmosis. This leads to rapid dehydration of the fish’s tissues and organs. The fish cannot osmoregulate effectively in this environment and will become dehydrated and eventually die.
Osmosis causes water to move from an area of lower solute concentration to an area of higher solute concentration. Freshwater fish are adapted to prevent water intake and conserve salts; saltwater fish are adapted to conserve water and excrete excess salts. Moving a fish from its native environment to one with significantly different salinity disrupts its osmoregulatory balance.