Do Fish Drink Water?

Answer 1

Freshwater fish absorb most of the water they need through their skin via osmosis (is the net movement of water through a selective permeable membrane from a region of low solute potential to a region of high solute potential), not through their gills. The gills are for respiration.
Saltwater fish actually drink the water the live in, as the salt in the water is constantly pulling H2O from their bodies in a reverse respiration, this is why some fish such as catfish are sensitive to salt in the water, but this is also why some fresh water fish are helped by salt to generate a mucous slime coat on their skin which is necessary for disease prevention. Proper electrolytes, magnesium and other elements are important for slime coat generation.

Another note, because most freshwater fish cannot drink their surrounding water (Salmon and others are exceptions), when you place these freshwater fish in saltwater, they actually dehydrate.

Answer 2

Web research seems to indicate that most fish do drink plenty of water, some continuously. Some fish absorb water through their skin and/or gills, and may excrete water that way, too. Apparently, fish need to maintain a fairly high concentration of salt, so how a fish deals with this need depends on whether it is a saltwater or freshwater fish. Most saltwater fish get enough or too much salt, and so preventing water loss is their concern. Freshwater fish are short on salt, and since water dilutes sodium, they have many mechanisms for excreting water. It is interesting to note that kidneys process water for excretion, so some saltwater fish have dysfunctional kidneys or are missing kidneys to help prevent water loss. The four "water/salt" strategies are listed below:

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Admin Note: The problem with fish vs. watery environment has do with the process of osmosis, defined as 'net movement of water molecules through a semipermeable membrane from a dilute solution to a more concentrated solution. The 'membrane' is the 'skin' or any other part of the fish that separates it from the water. If the concentration of salts and other solutes in the fish is greater than the outside, watery world, the fish takes on water (natural attempt to 'dilute the fish to what it's like outside' - bad for the fish). In scientific terms the fish is hypertonic to its surroundings (freshwater fish, e.g.). If a fish is hypotonic to its environment (marine fish), then the seawater has a higher solute concentration than the fish; the fish loses water to its surroundings (also bad for the fish). Kidneys function to overcome the effects of osmosis so fishX can stay either more or less concentrated than its environment.
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Answer 3

All animals require water to survive, but I don't know if fish absorb water or drink it.

Answer 4

No, they only process the water, but not drink it.

Answer 5

No they don't drink it, but absorb it through their skin and one item that all the others missed was that they do draw it into their mouths to push it through their gills to extract the oxygen out.

Answer 6

yes they do, all the time
process is the same with drinking ( in terms of fish zoology )

Answer 7

of course they do. Fish p!ss too, you know..

Answer 8

They do. They just can't help doing it

Answer 9

yeah...all living things need to consume water to survive...duh

Answer 10

no they drink wine