Animal Transport

osmoregulation

balancing water and electrolytes homeostatically between all body fluids

osmolarity

also known as solute potential, the measure of solute concentration in a solution

electrolyte

ions that dissolve in water

vasculature

veins or arteries that may change in volume and diameter

extracellular fluid

all fluids outside the cell

interstitual fluid

fluids between tissue cells

osmotic stress

when water and solute concentration are outside of a set point

osmoconformers

equilibriate osmolarities with seawater (marine invertebrates, sharks..)

osmoregulators

maintain osmolarities lower than seawater (bony fishes, freshwater fish, terrestrial animals)

marine fish

excretes excess salts from gills via active transport with small amount loss in the urine and conserve water

freshwater fish

excrete large volumes of dilute urine and conserve salts by importing ions across gills via active transport

anadromous fish

switches where ion pumps are in different environments where in seawater pump is basolateral and freshwater is apical

terrestrial animals

consume water and moist food as well as have kidneys to conserve ions

ammnotelic

excretion strategy where aquatic animal secrete ammonia through gills that is water soluble

ureotelic

excretion strategy where urea is mainly excreted which is water soluable but results in large water loss

uricotelic

excretion strategy that mainly excretes uric acid which is water insoluable and precipitates out of the urine with little water loss