A freshwater fish is placed in salt water. Which of the following events would most likely occur? a salt would be pulled out of the fish's cells, causing dehydration b water would be pulled out of the fish's cells, causing dehydration c swelling of the fish's cells would rapidly occur until they burst d no change would occur to the fish and its cells due to rapid adaptation

Answer 1

When a freshwater fish is placed in salt water, the most likely event to occur is:

b water would be pulled out of the fish's cells, causing dehydration.

This happens because the saltwater is hypertonic relative to the fish's internal body fluids, leading to osmosis where water moves out of the fish's cells to balance the concentration of solutes on both sides of the cell membrane. As a result, the cells lose water, leading to dehydration.