Abstract
During the initial period of adjustment of the lip-shark, Hemiscyllium plagiosum, to a dilute medium there is an apparent decline in rate of oxygen consumption which is due mainly to the accumulation of water in the body. There is a rapid loss of lipid and glycogen from the liver. After complete adaptation to the dilute medium, the oxygen consumption rate increases to the original level of the animal in sea water. A metabolic balance sheet based on the oxygen consumption, total nitrogen excretion and the assumption that muscle catabolism supplies the bulk of the energy, indicates that the lip-shark has an elevated catabolic rate in the dilute medium. The calculated catabolic rate agrees well with the rate of loss in body weight in the unfed fish. Blood glucose is well maintained while tissue-lactate concentrations decline following adaptation to 46% sea water. Thus the availability of oxygen and metabolite are not limiting with respect to survival in diluted sea water.
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