Question

Marine animals face the problem of

• A. Conservation of water
• B. Conservation of salts
• C. Osmoregulation
• D. All of the above

Answer 1

The correct option is A Conservation of water

There are three main types of osmoregulatory environments in which animals live: freshwater, marine, and terrestrial. Animals whose internal osmotic concentration is the same as the surrounding environment are considered osmoconformers, whereas those that maintain an osmotic difference between their body fluid and the surrounding environment are osmoregulators. Among marine animals, most invertebrates are osmoconformers whereas most vertebrates are osmoregulators. There is a tendency for marine fishes to lose water to the environment through the gill epithelium. The net result of combined osmotic work of the gills and kidneys in the marine teleosts is a net retention of water. They compensate for this by the use of specialized glands for the secretion of salts in a strong hyperosmotic fluid. Marine animals with these salt glands compensate for the inability of their kidney to produce urine that is strongly hypertonic relative to body fluids.