Kinetics of Water and Chloride Exchanges During Adaptation of the European Eel to Sea Water

1973 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
R. KIRSCH ◽  
N. MAYER-GOSTAN

Using isotopic procedures, the drinking rate and chloride exchanges were studied in the eel Anguilla anguilla during transfer from fresh water to sea water. 1. Following transfer to sea water there is a threefold increase of the drinking rate (lasting about 1 h). Then it falls to a minimum after 12-16 h and rises again to a maximum level about the seventh day after the transfer. Then a gradual reduction leads to a steady value which is not significantly different from the one observed in fresh water. 2. The changes with time of the plasma sodium and chloride concentrations are given. Their kinetics are not completely alike. 3. The chloride outflux increases 40-fold on transfer of the eel to sea water, but even so it is very low. After the sixth hour in sea water there is a progressive increase in the flux, so that on the fourth day it is higher (500 µ-equiv. h-1.100 g-1) than in the seawater-adapted animals (230 µ-equiv.h-1.100 g-1). 4. Drinking rate values in adapted animals are discussed in relation to the external medium. The kinetics of the drinking rate together with variations in body weights after freshwater-seawater transfer are discussed in relation to the possible stimulus of the drinking reflex. 5. Chloride fluxes (outflux, net flux, digestive entry) are compared and lead one to assume that in seawater-adapted fish one-third of the chloride influx enters via the gut and two-thirds via the gills.

1969 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. CHESTER JONES ◽  
D. K. O. CHAN ◽  
J. C. RANKIN

SUMMARY A method for the study of renal function and measurement of mean ventral and dorsal aortic blood pressure for the freshwater and seawater-adapted eel, and during transfer of the animal from fresh water to sea-water, is described. Freshwater eels have higher resting blood pressure, p-aminohippuric acid (PAH) and inulin clearance rates and urine flow than seawater eels. Urine from freshwater animals has low Na, K, Ca, Mg and Cl concentrations, while the clearance rate of inorganic phosphate exceeded that of inulin. Urine from seawater animals has high Na, Ca, Mg and Cl concentrations while that of inorganic phosphate was low. Clearance rates for Ca and Mg greatly exceeded those of inulin. During transfer from fresh water to sea-water there was an initial fluctuation in blood pressure, urine flow and PAH and inulin clearance rates which lasted about 2 hr. Thereafter these gradually declined to values observed for the seawater-adapted animal. The significance of PAH and inulin clearance rates in the study of renal function in the eel and in teleosts in general is discussed.


1972 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-131
Author(s):  
R. KIRSCH

1. New intra-vascular cannulation techniques are described, and also an extra-corporal blood circuit containing an artificial heart and a counting cell. This makes possible a continuous study of the radioactivity of the blood. 2. Plasma chloride concentration varies greatly in fresh-water eels despite good sodium regulation. 3. The fresh-water to sea-water adaptation of eels is frequently accompanied by a temporary hypermineralization of the internal medium. This necessitates a high degree of cellular euryhalinity. 4. The sea-water-adapted eel maintains strict homeostasis of its plasma chloride and sodium. 5. The chloride distribution space decreases by 10% when eels are transferred from fresh water to sea water. The internal distribution of chloride is also modified and its fluxes between the ion compartments of the body are considerably increased.


1978 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. BABIKER ◽  
J. C. RANKIN

Low doses of arginine-vasotocin (AVT), isotocin and oxytocin (1 pg–1 ng/kg body weight) were antidiuretic in eels adapted to fresh water but not in those adapted to sea-water. High doses (more than 10 ng/kg) were always diuretic. No effects on tubular water reabsorption were observed and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was proportional to the maximum reabsorptive rate for glucose (Tm (glucose)) in eels adapted to sea-water. Increases in urinary flow appeared therefore to result from glomerular recruitment. Infusion of AVT or isotocin at low rates reduced the GFR and urinary flow of freshwater eels to the levels found in seawater eels. Vasopressin (lysine or arginine) had no direct effect on kidney function in freshwater eels but blocked both the diuretic and antidiuretic actions of the other hormones. When infused into seawater eels it was diuretic. This effect could have been due to blockade of the actions of endogenous AVT and/or isotocin.


1977 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-110
Author(s):  
T. J. Bradley ◽  
J. E. Phillips

1. The drinking rate of the saline-water mosquito larva Aedes taeniorhyncus (100 nl.mg-1.h-1) is unaffected by the salinity of the external medium, but is directly proportional to the surface area of the animal. 2. Haemolymph Na+, Mg2+, K+, Cl-, SO42- and osmotic concentrations were measured in larvae adapted to 10%, 100% and 200% seawater and were found to be regulated within a narrow range. 3. With the exception of potassium, ionic concentrations in rectal secretion were found to increase with increasing concentrations of the sea water in which larvae were reared. 4. The osmotic concentration of rectal secretion was unaffected by changes in haemolymph osmotic concentration but did rise when sodium or chloride concentrations of the haemolymph were increased. High levels of these ions also stimulated the rate of fluid secretion. 5. Transport of chloride and sodium by the rectum exhibits the kinetics of allosteric rather than classical enzymes.


1976 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-475
Author(s):  
N. Mayer-Gostan ◽  
T. Hirano

The IXth and the Xth cranial nerves in Anguilla anguilla were transected, and the effects upon ion and water balance were studied in fresh water and sea water, and during transfer from fresh water and vice versa. In fresh water there is a slow demineralization due to an excess loss of Na and Cl ions. During freshwater to seawater transfer the eel survives only for 4–5 days. The fish do not drink and Na efflux does not increase enough to extrude excess ions. In sea water the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves are necessary for the maintenance of the hydromineral balance. Denervation is followed by an increase in plasma ion concentrations. Na fluxes are not modified and increased water loss is not compensated by drinking. The rapid reduction of Na efflux during transfer from sea water to fresh water is not modified by denervation.


This paper contains the account of a great number of observations made by the author during the last summer, while he was at the southern coast of England, on several species of Sertulariæ , Plumulariæ , Tubulariæ , Campanulariæ , Flustræ , and other polypiferous zoophytes, and also on various Ascidiæ . Each specimen was placed for examination in a glass trough with parallel sides, before the large achromatic microscope of the author, directed horizontally; and care was taken to change the sea-water frequently, which was done by means of two syphons, the one supplying fresh water, while the other carried off the old; a plan which succeeded in keeping the animals in perfect health and vigour. The drawings which were taken of the appearances that presented themselves were traced with a cameralucida, slid over the eye-piece of the microscope. In a specimen of the Tubularia indivisa , when magnified 100 times, a current of particles was seen within the tube, strikingly resembling, in the steadiness and continuity of its stream, the vegetable circulation in the Chara . Its general course was parallel to the slightly spiral lines of irregular spots on the tube; on one side flowing from, and on the other towards, the polypus, each current occupying one half of the circumference of the tube. The particles were of various sizes, some very small, others larger, but apparently aggregations of the smaller: a few were nearly globular, but in general they had no regular shape. At the knots, or contracted parts of the tube, slight vortices were observed in the current; and at the ends of the tube the particles were seen to turn round, and pass over to the other side. Singular fluctuations were also observed in the size of the stomach and of the cavity of the mouth; the one occasionally enlarging, while the other contracted, as if produced by the passage of a fluid from the one into the other and its subsequent recession, thus distending each alternately. This flux and reflux took place regularly at intervals of 80 seconds; besides which two currents were continually flowing, both in the mouth and stomach; an outer one in one direction, and an inner one in the opposite direction.


Author(s):  
K. F. Kelly ◽  
B. J. S. Pirie ◽  
M. V. Bell ◽  
J. R. Sargent

Gills of fresh-water and sea-water eels were perfused at a constant pressure with physiological Ringer containing 10−6 M sodium orthovanadate and examined by light microscopy. The secondary gill filaments were markedly vasoconstricted in both freshwater and sea-water fish although the peripheral blood route around the secondary filaments was unaffected. The central venous space in the primary filament was largely unaffected. Significant constriction of both afferent and efferent arteries on the primary filament occurred. We conclude that orthovanadate vasoconstricts eel gills mainly at the level of the secondary filaments. The study also emphasizes that chloride cells are located on both the primary and secondary filaments of fresh-water gills but solely on the primary filaments of sea-water gills.


2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 1189-1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takaomi Arai ◽  
Aya Kotake ◽  
Chris Harrod ◽  
Michelle Morrissey ◽  
T. Kieran McCarthy

AbstractRecent studies have shown that anguillid eel populations in habitats spanning the marine–freshwater ecotone can display extreme plasticity in the range of catadromy expressed by individual fish. The apparent use of marine and freshwater habitats by the European eel Anguilla anguilla was examined by analysing the strontium (Sr) and calcium (Ca) concentrations in otoliths of eels collected from a tidal Atlantic lake system in Ireland. Variations of the Sr:Ca ratio in the otoliths indicated that a variety of environmental salinities had been experienced in the habitats that were occupied during the growth phase of these individuals in the tidal Atlantic lake system. The otolith microchemistry of these eels indicated that most of the eels had entered each salinity environment (freshwater (FW); brackish water (BW); marine-dominated water (MW) and full seawater (SW)) from fresh water to full seawater just after recruitment and had stayed in each environment until maturation without movement to other salinity environments. Only 2 of 93 (2%) eels had shifted their habitat once in their lives. This result suggests that each individual might have an environmental habitat preference, although each individual could move along a short (<2 km) salinity gradient.


1972 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-512
Author(s):  
R. KIRSCH

1. New experimental techniques are described for the investigation of water and electrolyte fluxes in the eel by studying the internal medium, the urine and the external medium. An experimental tank made up of two compartments isolates the water containing the head from the water containing the trunk and tail of the animal. The two water circuits are separated by remote control. Measurement can thus be made without handling the eel previously adapted to experimental conditions. 2. The freshwater eel shows low branchial exchanges and low chloride urinary losses. A positive correlation between urinary excretion of water and sodium has been shown. 3. The silver eel's skin is impermeable to water and chlorides. 4. The eel reacts to FW-SW transfer by immediately drinking water. The drinking reflex is therefore not triggered by dehydration due to the osmotic gradient. 5. During SW adaptation the eel presents a transitory hyperactivity phase of the branchial outflux corresponding to plasma hypermineralization. 6. The eel which has been adapted to sea water for 3 weeks shows the lowest chloride exchanges ever recorded among marine teleosts.


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