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Carbonate deposits in marine fish intestines: A new source of biomineralization
Author(s) -
Walsh Patrick J.,
Blackwelder Patricia,
Gill Kenneth A.,
Danulat Eva,
Mommsen Thomas P.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1991.36.6.1227
Subject(s) - osmoregulation , seawater , biomineralization , carbonate , mineralization (soil science) , toadfish , calcium carbonate , carbonate minerals , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , chemistry , ecology , fishery , salinity , paleontology , organic chemistry , soil water
Marine teleostean fish are hypo‐osmotic to seawater. As part of a multiorgan osmoregulatory strategy they drink seawater and selectively absorb water and minerals across the intestinal epithelium. Notably, divalent cations (Ca 2+ and Mg 2‒ ) are left behind. We report here that in the gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta, the ionic by‐products of osmoregulation in the intestine contribute to de novo formation of a carbonate mineral, tentatively identified as calcian kutnohorite. Our data suggest that intestinal mineralization is a general feature of osmoregulation in marine teleosts and that this process is an unrecognized and possibly substantial source of marine carbonate sediments.

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