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Osmoregulation in Fish: A Field Assignment

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Osmoregulation Field Assignment Osmoregulation is the process in which an organism balances the uptake and loss of water and solutes, on a cellular level, in an attempt to maintain homeostasis (Campbell and Reece, 2009). In osmoregulation, the regulation of osmotic pressure is the way in which organisms prevent their fluid from becoming to concentrated or diluted. The osmotic pressure, generated by the net movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane, driven by differences in solute concentrations on each side of the membrane, is critical in the maintenance of homeostasis. During osmosis, water flows from the solution with the lower concentration of solute to the higher concentration of solute. If the solution outside the cell has a higher solute concentration than inside the cell, it is a hypertonic solution and water will leave the cell. A hypotonic solution occurs when the cell has a higher solute concentration than out side the cell, and water will enter the cell. If the concentrations on both sides of the membrane are equal to each other, then the solution is known to be isotonic which results in no net flow of water.
Throughout evolution, many species have derived different mechanisms to deal with the ever-present problem of maintaining homeostasis of water and solutes in their given environment. The osmoregulatory strategies of freshwater and saltwater fish provide an example in which similar species are able to adapt to their environment and maintain
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