Hi Maggie :)
The question about whether fish drink is related why salt water fish can't live in fresh water and fresh water fish can't live in salt water. Fish don't drink by swallowing water but they do absorb water through their skins. I don't think anyone knows whether fish feel thirst or not.
If a fish is in fresh water, it will absorb a lot of water, much more than it will ever need. A fresh water fish doesn't die from absorbing too much water though, because it pee pees a lot. A salt water fish can't get rid of all this extra water when in fresh water so it's blood and body will fill with more and more water and it will die.
If a fish is in salt water, it will absorb very little water. This is no problem for a salt water fish, which pee pee's only very very tiny amounts of water - but a fresh water fish in salt water will very quickly lose nearly all the water in it's body and die.
One more thing. If any fish is suddenly taken from a kind of water that it's used to and put into a very differend kind, it will get badly shocked. It's gills will stop working and it will die almost instantly.
I hope this answers your question Maggie. :)
Ackers. |
