Osmoregulation of the Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus, in Lake St. Lucia, Kwazulu/Natal, South Africa.
Nile crocodiles of three age classes, hatched in captivity and reared in fresh water, when exposed acutely to water of 17 and 35 ppt NaCl, suffered marked dehydration, were lethargic, ceased to feed and lost mass. When exposed to gradually increasing salinities (3-35 ppt), with a short acclimation period at each salinity, crocodiles survived, continued to feed and increased in mass and size. All age classes had a relatively constant plasma osmolality across the salinity spectrum. Cloacal urine osmolality varied throughout the acclimation experiment, but did not increase with increasing salinity. No significant increase was found in plasma concentrations of any of the osmolytes. There was a trend of decreasing cloacal urine [Na(+)] and [Cl(-)] and increasing cloacal urine [K(+)] with increased salinity, indicating that urine was not an important route for Na(+) and Cl(-) excretion. Crocodiles exposed to saline conditions maintained relatively constant plasma uric acid concentrations, but urinary uric acid concentrations increased markedly with increasing salinities. This suggests that uric acid is the main constituent of nitrogenous waste excretion in saline exposed Nile crocodiles. As in Crocodylus porosus, C.niloticus has the physiological ability to survive and thrive in periodically hyper-osmotic environments. However, its euryhalinity is restricted, in that acute exposure to sea water leads to dehydration, but with an acclimation period at lower salinities, it survives and thrives in sea water.