Environmental Temperature and Plasma Electrolyte Regulation in the Carp, Cyprinus carpio

Abstract

WHILE the ability of the freshwater teleost to control body fluid electrolyte composition has been appreciated primarily in terms of neuromuscular and related membrane-dependent phenomena, an increasing body of evidence points to an equally important role in the regulation of intermediary metabolism¹. Control of water-electrolyte balance in these animals involves adjustment of a variety of passive and metabolically-dependent transfer processes operating at phase boundaries within the body fluid system, and at the several sites at which exchange with the environment is possible. Regulation is also influenced by the mass transport activities of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, the primary functions of which prompt both endosmosis and electrolyte efflux.