Body Fluid Solutes of Juveniles and Adults of the Euryhaline Bull Shark Carcharhinus Leucas from Freshwater and Saline Environments
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Investigations of the Ichthyofauna of Nicaraguan Lakes Papers in the Biological Sciences 1976 Body Fluid Solutes of Juveniles and Adults of the Euryhaline Bull Shark Carcharhinus Leucas from Freshwater and Saline Environments Thomas B. Thorson University of Nebraska-Lincoln C. Michael Cowan Associated Environmental Services Corp. Donald E. Watson University of Lagos Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ichthynicar Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons Thorson, Thomas B.; Cowan, C. Michael; and Watson, Donald E., "Body Fluid Solutes of Juveniles and Adults of the Euryhaline Bull Shark Carcharhinus Leucas from Freshwater and Saline Environments" (1976). Investigations of the Ichthyofauna of Nicaraguan Lakes. 47. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ichthynicar/47 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Papers in the Biological Sciences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Investigations of the Ichthyofauna of Nicaraguan Lakes by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ICHTHYOFAUNA OF NICARAGUAN LAKES, ed. Thomas B. Thorson (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1976). Copyright © 1976 School of Life Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Repri~ted for private circulat~on f~om PHY~IOLOGICAL ZOOLOGY, Vol. 46, No.1, January 1973 29-42 Copynght © 1973 by the Umversity of ChIcago. All rights reserved. Printed in U. S. A. ' pp. BODY FLUID SOLUTES OF JUVENILES AND ADULTS OF THE EURYHALINE BULL SHARK CARCHARHINUS LEUCAS FROM FRESHWATER AND SALINE ENVIRONl\1ENTSl THOMAS B. THORSON, C. MICHAEL COWAN, AND DONALD E. WATSON Depar~ment of Zoology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508' Department of BIology, N~bras~a We~leyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska 68504; and School of BIOlogIcal SCIences, University of Lagos, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria INTRODUCTION Krogh ( 1939) , Prosser and Brown (1961), Potts and Parry (1964), sev Since the discovery of the phenome eral authors in Gilbert, Mathewson, and nally high urea content of the body flu RaIl (1967), and Hoar and Randall ids of cartilaginous fishes by Staedeler (1969). and Frerichs (1858), the unique osmo regulatory system of this vertebrate However, chondrichthians have also class has been studied by many inves been reported in brackish or fresh water tigators. In broad outline, the mecha i? many places around the world, par nisms are essentially similar in all three tIcularly in the tropics and subtropics. of the major subtaxa: the selachians, Known occurrences have been tabu the batoids, and the holocephalans. A lated by Engelhardt ( 1913 ) , Smith single exception is the genus P otamo (1936), and Boeseman (1964). These trygon (fresh-water stingrays of South s?ecies are, to various extents, euryha America and Africa), which has appar lme and should provide excellent sub ently lost the ability to concentrate urea jects for studies on osmoregulation. Yet even when transferred to salt water in spite of the ready availability of eu~ (Thorson, Cowan, and Watson 1967; ryhaline forms in certain places very Thorson 1970; Goldstein and Forster little work has been done on any ~spect 1971b). of the physiology of elasmobranchs in Since the Chondrichthyes are primar fresh water until the past decade. The ily marine animals, research on them only exception was the classical inves has centered mainly upon marine spe tigation of Smith (1931a) who studied cies, either in their natural environment the blood and certain other body fluids or following transfer to various dilu of four species of elasmobranchs taken tions of seawater. These studies have in the Perak River in the Federated been reviewed by Smith (1931b, 1936), Malay States (now Malaysia). These included a sawfish, Pristis microdon; 1 We are indebted to Colegio Centro America, a shark identified as Carcharhinus mel Managua, Nicaragua, for facilities provided. Some anopterus; and two rays, Dasyatis of the laboratory work was done by Jeffery W. Gerst. Appreciation is expressed to him and to warnak and H ypolophus sephen. For others too numerous to name for a vrrriety of more than 30 years Smith's results pro help. The study was supported by NIH grant vided the only available basis for sub HE-09075, by National Science Foundation funds for operation of the RjV Rhincodon at the Mote sequent discussions of osmoregulation Marine Laboratory, and by the University Re of elasmobranchs in fresh water. In search Council of the University of Nebraska, through Biomedical Sciences Support Grant RT- general, Smith demonstrated that (1) 07055. the osmotic pressure of the serum is 29 599 30 T. B. THOI{SON, C. M. COWAN, AND D. E. WATSON about 45 % lower in fresh-water elas fresh water, the only sharks that com mobranchs than in marine ones but is monly undertake extended excursions still higher than that of either fresh into fresh water in appreciable numbers water or marine teleosts; (2) in fresh are Carcharhinus leucas and its close water, chloride content is reduced by relatives included in the C. leucas-gan about 25 %, to approximately the range geticus group of Garrick and Schultz of teleosts; ( 3) the urea level is lower (1963). Carcharhinus leucas is the spe by about 70%, but still much higher cies that forms a sizable population in than that of teleosts; and (4) urine ex Lake Nicaragua and its drainage into hibits a marked increase in flow accom the Caribbean Sea, the Rio San Juan. panied by a manyfold decrease in os Contrary to an earlier and still common motic concentration. popular belief, they do not constitute a Values reported by Smith (1931a) separate, land-locked species but are for urea, as well as other body fluid identical with the bull sharks of the parameters, varied widely both among Atlantic and are able to move freely and within species. This has also been back and forth between the Caribbean true for marine elasmobranchs reported Sea and Lake Nicaragua (Thorson, by other authors. These variations no Watson, and Cowan 1966; Thorson doubt represent, in part, genuine spe 1971). They are also known to remain cific differences, and in some cases in both fresh and salt water for ex might reflect technical problems. How tended periods (unpublished data). In ever, in many cases (Smith excepted), spite of its potential usefulness and the environmental history of the sub availability, C. leucas remained unex ject animals was unknown, or at least ploited for physiological studies until not indicated, and the variations in urea 1962. Since that time, studies on vari levels reported may to some extent re ous aspects of the osmoregulation of flect differences in the salinity of the this species have been reported by environment from which the experimen Thorson (1962a, 1962b, 1967), Urist tal animals were taken. (1962), Oguri (1964), Gerzelli, Ger The ideal experimental subject would vaso, and De Stefano (1969), and be one that could be taken from both Thorson and Gerst (1972). fresh and salt water, in situations where In this paper, we present data on it was reasonably certain that the in the chemical anatomy of serum, peri dividuals had been in one environment visceral fluid, pericardial fluid, and cra or the other for an appreciable length nial fluid of (1) adult sharks from of time. Such a species is Carcharhinus marine waters off the west coast of leucas (family, Carcharhinidae), the Florida; (2) adults from the fresh bull shark, which occurs along the water of Lake Nicaragua; (3) juveniles coasts of tropical and SUbtropical land from the fresh water of the lowest masses all around the world. This spe reaches of the Rio San Juan; and (4) cies occurs in full-strength seawater adults from water of undetermined but and also congregates around the mouths varied salinities around the mouth of of rivers and is known to travel up the Rio San Juan. completely fresh-water rivers and into lakes in a number of places. Although MATERIAL AND METHODS the listings mentioned above include The sharks were obtained by local several species of sharks reported in fishermen in Lake Nicaragua and at 600 BODY FLUIDS OF BULL SHARKS 31 I I I I I 10 20 30 .«J 50 Km 1 N w co «'" u II< « "l: COSTA FIG. I.-Map of Lake Nicaragua, Rio San Juan, and Rio Colorado (drawn by Norman H. Jensen) Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica (fig. 1). cluded a group of specimens taken at They were caught almost exclusively on each end of the lake (near Granada handlines with large shark hooks baited and at San Carlos). They were, there with chunks of various local fishes. A fore, about 180-345 km from the sea, few in the vicinity of Granada were distances that assure that they had been taken on sport gear with caiman tail as in fresh water for an appreciable, al bait. The Florida sharks were taken on though undetermined, length of time. longlines, also baited with chunks of Since the major fluid parameters showed fish. no differences between the two groups, Here, adults include both sexuaIly they have been combined in a single mature and immature individuals, in series. most cases more than 110 em long, The juvenile series was taken almost while juveniles are 72 em or less in exclusively a kilometer or more inside length. Very few sharks between 80 and the river mouth, where the water was 110 em in length are taken in the re completely fresh, as it is throughout the search area. length of the Rio San Juan and Rio The adult series from Florida was Colorado. taken in fuIl-strength seawater of ap After leaving the river mouth, the proximately 34 ppt total salinity, within fresh water extends 2 or 3 km out to a few miles of the Mote Marine Labo sea and is washed down the coast by ratory at Sarasota.