Question

You decide to buy a new fish for your freshwater aquarium. when you introduce the fish into its new tank, the fish swells up and dies. you later learn that it was a fish from the ocean. explain what phenomenon has occurred that caused the fish to die.

Answer 1

The fish is from the ocean which is a hypertonic solution (high concentration of salt). The fish tank has freshwater which is a hypotonic solution (low salt concentration). The fish has a high concentration of salt compared to the fresh water so it sucks in water until its cells burst (hypotonic)