Answer: A contractile vacuole (CV) is an organelle, or sub-cellular structure, that is involved in osmoregulation and waste removal. ... In freshwater environments, the concentration of solutes inside the cell is higher than outside the cell. Under these conditions, water flows from the environment into the cell by osmosis. The contractile vacuole (CV) complex is an osmoregulatory organelle of free-living amoebae and protozoa, which controls the intracellular water balance by accumulating and expelling excess water out of the cell, allowing cells to survive under hypotonic stress as in pond water.
