2007-01-23 03:24:56 · 6 answers · asked by xbeat_em_down 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Marine is saltwater
Freshwater is rivers,lakes,etc.
Remember it this way......Saline (Marine) Saline=Saltwater
Freshwater has no saline, hence rivers,lakes,ponds,etc.
2007-01-23 03:29:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
As has been stated the difference is in the saltiness of the water, so marine (sea) water is salty and freshwater isn't (like river water).
I guess the next question is why is this important? After all surely fish just live in water! This is in fact a very important difference and most fish and shellfish can only live in marine or freshwater environments (exceptions include eels and salmon).
This is because of an effect called osmosis. Have you ever noticed how if you eat something very salty you get thirsty? Osmosis is a bit like that; in the cells that make up your body (and the body of a fish) the saltiness of the stuff inside and outside the cells likes to be in balance.
If the stuff inside the cell is saltier than the stuff outside, then nature wants to balance out that difference in saltiness and the only way it can do that is to let water flow from the less salty area to the more salty area. Unfortunately that means that there is too much water in the cell so the cell will get bigger and bigger until eventually it will burst!
This means that if a sea fish is put into fresh water it will die as it suffers cell damage. The flip side of this is that if you put a freshwater fish in sea water it will suffer the opposite problem. Water will leave its cells to try to dilute the seawater! In this case the cells will shrivel up as water leaves the cell, until they can't work properly, and again the fish will die.
I am not sure what level of science you are at, so I have oversimplified here, sorry if you already know this!
2007-01-23 05:48:38 · answer #2 · answered by Kit 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Salt. Marine water has rather rather some salt in it. sparkling water does no longer. The "inch in step with gallon" rule is inaccurate, incorrect, incorrect, incorrect. Please ignore you ever heard it. 80 4-inch fish would overstock a 250-gallon tank, in my opinion, yet with the type of great aquarium, you may smash out with things you should under no circumstances do in a 10-gallon or 20-gallon aquarium. i wager your question is about variations in stocking ranges between freshwater and marine aquaria. In both kinds, the criteria of each man or woman species trump any generic guidelines, yet i'm able to allow you to keep in mind that marine fish usually want a minimum of four to 5 cases as a lot water and area as freshwater fish a similar length. There are various causes for this, yet imagine of the size of the sea compared to the size of a pond or creek. also, saltwater holds plenty a lot less dissolved oxygen than sparkling water of a similar temperature. with the exception of, ocean fish tend to be a lot less tolerant of pollution (ammonia or nitrate, for instance) than maximum freshwater fish are.
2016-10-15 23:52:52 · answer #3 · answered by mccarty 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The easy way to think of this is marine habitats are salty but freshwater habitats are not. there may be more detailed answers out there
2007-01-23 03:40:55 · answer #4 · answered by hobo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Freshwater: rivers, lakes, streams, ponds - no salt
Marine: oceans, seas - salt
2007-01-23 03:51:22 · answer #5 · answered by kimmy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Marine is saltwater...freshwater is that...freshwater.
2007-01-23 03:29:45 · answer #6 · answered by R W 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋