Question

Why is osmoregulation necessary in aquatic animals?

Answer 1

Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism 's fluids to maintain thehomeostasis of the organism 's water content; that is it keeps the organism 's fluids from becoming too diluted or too concentrated. Osmotic pressure is a measure of the tendency of water to move into one solution from another by osmosis. The higher the osmotic pressure of a solution the more water wants to move into the solution. Pressure must be exerted onthe hypertonic side of a selectively permeable membrane to preventdiffusion of water by osmosis from the side containing pure water.

Organisms in both aquatic and terrestrial environments must maintain the right concentration of solutes and amount of water in their body fluids; this involves excretion (getting rid of metabolic wastes and other substances such as hormones that would be toxic if allowed to accumulate in the blood) via organs such as the skin and thekidneys; keeping the amount of water and dissolved solutes in balance is referred to as osmoregulation.

Answer 2

Osmoregulation is a process that maintains the amount of water and proper ionic balance in the body. Balance of water and ions is partly linked to excretion, the removal of metabolic wastes from the body.

 

Types of osmoregulatory environments in which animals live:

Freshwater animals – They are generally hyperosmotic to their environment. Their body swells by movement of water and they have continual loss of body salts to the surrounding environment..Marine animals - Depending on their ability to tolerate different salinities aquatic animals they maintain an osmotic difference between their body fluid and the surrounding environment are osmoregulators. 

 

Aquatic animals produce a large volume of dilute urine with waste material after the absorption of essential salt and nutrients.