Acclimation of Osmoregulatory Function in Salmon

Acclimation of Osmoregulatory Function in Salmon Download a printable version of this essay. As you know, salmon spend most of their life in the open ocean, where they reach sexual maturity, but lay their eggs gravel beds at the upper reaches of (freshwater) streams. When the eggs hatch, the young salmon spend several months migrating downstream to the ocean where they remain for some 3-5 years. When mature, the adult salmon return to mouth of stream where they hatched (they remember the taste/smell of the water in the stream), migrate upstream to its headwaters, spawn, and die. As you might expect, there are some serious physiological challenges presented by habitats as different as freshwater streams and the open ocean. The purpose of this essay is to discuss one of those challenges — how to keep the concentration and composition of their body fluids within homeostatic limits while migrating from fresh to salt water and back again — that salmon must cope with during their life cyc ... Read full article.