Past seawater experience enhances seawater adaptability in medaka, Oryzias latipes

BACKGROUND: During the course of evolution, fishes have acquired adaptability to various salinity environments, and acquirement of seawater (SW) adaptability has played important roles in fish evolution and diversity. However, little is known about how saline environments influence the acquirement of SW adaptability. The Japanese medaka Oryzias latipes is a euryhaline species that usually inhabits freshwater (FW), but is also adaptable to full-strength SW when transferred through diluted SW. In the present study, we examined how past SW experience affects hyposmoregulatory ability in Japanese medaka. RESULTS: For the preparation of SW-experienced fish, FW medaka were acclimated to SW after pre-acclimation to 1/2 SW, and the SW-acclimated fish were transferred back to FW. The SW-experienced fish and control FW fish (SW-inexperienced fish) were transferred directly to SW. Whereas control FW fish did not survive direct transfer to SW, 1/4 of SW-experienced fish adapted successfully to SW. Although there were no significant differences in blood osmolality and plasma Na(+) and Cl(−) concentrations between SW-experienced and control FW medaka in FW, increments in these parameters following SW transfer were lower in SW-experienced fish than in control FW fish. The gene expression of SW-type Na(+), K(+)-ATPase (NKA) in the gills of SW-experienced medaka increased more quickly after direct SW transfer compared with the expression in control FW fish. Prior to SW transfer, the density of NKA-immunoreactive ionocytes in the gills was higher in SW-experienced fish than in control FW fish. Ionocytes expressing CFTR Cl(−) channel at the apical membrane and those forming multicellular complexes, both of which were characteristic of SW-type ionocytes, were also increased in SW-experienced fish. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that past SW experience enhances the capacity of Na(+) and Cl(−) secretion in ionocytes and thus hypoosmoregulatory ability of Japanese medaka, suggesting the presence of epigenetic mechanisms involved in seawater adaptation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40851-016-0047-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.