Ionic regulation in aglomerular tropical estuarine pufferfishes submitted to sea water dilution

Two common tropical estuarine pufferfishes were used in this study. The main species was Sphoeroides testudineus Linnaeus, 1758, a very abundant species in the estuaries of Paranaguá Bay (Paraná, Brazil), found in waters of salinity between 0 per thousand (tidal creeks) and 34 per thousand (tidal plains). The second species was S. greeleyi Gilbert, 1900, a species limited in distribution to an area of higher salinity ( approximately 30 per thousand) than S. testudineus. The present work thus aimed at evaluating the capacity of ionic regulation of both species of pufferfishes when submitted to salinity decrease, relating the results with both species' distribution in nature. Ion regulation curves for sodium (Na(+)), chloride (Cl(-)), and magnesium (Mg(2+)) ions after 6 h and 15 days of exposure of the abundant S. testudineus to the salinities of 30 per thousand, 20 per thousand, 10 per thousand, and 5 per thousand were elaborated, as well as for Cl(-) and Mg(2+) after 6 h and 15 days of exposure of both species to the extreme salinities of 35 per thousand and 5 per thousand. Both species kept their plasma Cl(-) ( approximately 120-160 mM), and Mg(2+) ( approximately 1.3 mM) concentrations stable, as did S. testudineus for Na(+) ( approximately 130 mM). Na(+) (measured only for S. testudineus) and Cl(-) were either hyper-regulated (in 5 per thousand) or kept iso-ionic ( approximately 7-10 per thousand), but more often hypo-regulated (20-35 per thousand). In contrast, Mg(2+) was strongly hypo-regulated in all salinities. According to their distribution records in nature, S. greeleyi was less able to tolerate strong sea water dilution, showing mortality after 5 days in 5 per thousand water. These estuarine pufferfishes are thus efficient regulators of plasma ionic concentrations in diluted sea water, as expected from their occupation of estuaries. The experiments have supported the distribution records of both species in the estuarine complex and resident estuarine species were thus characterized with respect to their osmoregulatory capacities.