Effects of Low Ambient Calcium Levels on Whole-Body Ca2+ Flux Rates and Internal Calcium Pools in the Freshwater Cichlid Teleost,Oreochromis Mossambicus

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Abstract
Calcium fluxes and internal calcium pools were measured in fed, rapidly growing, male tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus, acclimated to 0.8 mmol l−1 (FW) and 0.2mmoll−1 (LFW) Ca2+. Plasma calcium levels were slightly and significantly higher in the LFW tilapia, but muscle calcium concentrations were independent of ambient Ca2+. At the time of the experiments, the LFW fish were growing and accumulated calcium, although the calcium content of their hard tissues was reduced. The LFW fish had higher Ca2+ influx and efflux rates than the FW fish. The increase in the influx of Ca2+ in LFW fish was, however, substantially greater than the increase in the efflux of Ca2+, giving these fish a more than four-fold increase in net Ca2+ influx from the water: for a 20-g tilapia net uptake rates of Ca2+ from the water were 390 and 1620 nmol Ca2+ h−1 for FW- and LFW-adapted fish, respectively. These values were calculated to represent at least 69% of the total calcium accumulated by these growing fish. This indicates that even in low-calcium water, tilapia absorb a significant amount of their calcium requirement directly from the water. The pool of readily exchangeable calcium in the bone of FW fish was estimated to be about 7 % of the total hard tissue calcium. In the fish acclimated to LFW, this percentage increased to about 15 % as total hard tissue mineralization decreased. This may indicate that tilapia can increase the mobility of their hard tissue calcium during periods of low calcium stress.