The effects of calcium on water balance of the brown trout <i>Salmo trutta</i>

Abstract

Water space, tritiated water flux, drinking and urine flow rates of the brown trout were decreased by increasing the environmental calcium concentration. Diffusional and osmotic permeabilities were identical in fresh water. This suggests that water flow across the gill occurs entirely by diffusion. Previous suggestions of a discrepancy between the two permeabilities in freshwater teleosts could have been due to an overestimation of urine flow rate upon which the determination of osmotic permeability coefficient is based. The wide-ranging effects of calcium on hydro-mineral regulation suggests that the ion interacts with the gills.