Ontogeny of osmoregulation and salinity tolerance in the gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata

The gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, is a euryhaline teleost that hatches in the open sea. The larvae drift to the coast and juveniles migrate into estuaries and lagoons where the salinity of the water may vary from brackish to hyper-saline. The ontogeny of osmoregulation in Sparus aurata was studied at successive stages, from day 1 (D1) post-hatch to the late juvenile stage (D300) after exposure to different salinities ranging from fresh water to 45.1‰, at 18 °C. Survival ranged from between 5.1 and 39.1‰ at D3, and from 1.0 to 45.1‰ from D75. The fish were hyper-hypo-osmotic regulators at all studied stages. The acquisition of the full ability to hypo- and hyper-regulate occurred in four steps. The osmoregulatory capacity appeared age-dependent and reached its maximum level after D96, and the localization of ionocytes in the integument and gills occurred concurrently during development of the sea bream. However, the main site of osmoregulation shifted from the integument to the gills from D30 to D70, with a corresponding sharp increase in the osmoregulatory ability. Our results suggest that the early development of osmoregulatory ability, and thus of salinity tolerance in the sea bream may provide an advantageous flexibility for the timing of the migration between sea and estuaries and lagoons.