Thirsty For Answers: Do Fish Get Thirsty?

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If you’re anything like me, you can’t help but watch fish for hours as they swim about in the deep waters.

It’s fascinating to see them jumping, darting back and forth, or even sleepily doing a bit of belly-sitting across the bottom of the water.

I squeal with delight every time I see a new species of fish that I’ve never seen before.

I always end up wondering if these clever little scaly creatures feel thirsty in the same way that mammals do.

Do fish get thirsty? Numerous studies have shown that fish do experience some sort of sensation when they need water, but the jury is still out on whether or not it’s thirst.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the expression “thirsty like a fish.” I mean, it sounds about right. They do look like they’re always watching the water! Maybe they are.

If a fish “looks” thirsty, does it mean that it’s thirsty, or is there something else going on?

Do Fish Even Drink Water?

There is no doubt that fish have some sort of sense when they need extra water. It’s not necessarily a sense of “thirst” as in the way that it is in mammals, but there is an involuntary reflex that occurs.

According to research done by the University of Texas Austin, fish exhibit a response in their brain that can be described as the “water conservation reflex.”

This reflex changes the normal behavior of fish, causing them to restrict their water intake. When the fish sense that they’re thirsty, they restrict their fluid intake until water is no longer a necessity.

Certainly, fish have the same bodily functions and organs as any other creature. They eat and digest food to give their bodies the energy that they need.

They breathe air from the water and exhale carbon dioxide back into it.

They even excrete waste that is flushed away by their streams of water. These are all vital functions for survival and it only makes sense for them to have a way to replenish the fluid that they lose to survive.

Do Fish Ever Get Thirsty?

According to this research, fish certainly do feel like they require more water after they’ve been deprived of it. Whether or not a fish gets “thirsty” is still up for debate.

I’ve read stories where fishermen have made comments that they just knew that their catch was thirsty.

It’s well known that fish must have water or they will die. I’ve even heard people say that a fish died of thirst if it was caught in an area of the lake where there wasn’t any water.

But does this mean that the fish got thirsty?

I can’t help but wonder if a lot of people are seeing the results but not understanding the actual cause. There are so many factors that can play into the death of a fish that I think it’s important to see the full picture.

Did the fish die of thirst or was there something else going on? Maybe, for example, that fish was sick or injured. Maybe the fisherman caught it in an area where it couldn’t find food.

A lot of things are at play here and we may be jumping to conclusions before we have all the facts.

Do fish get thirsty? While fish may have some sense when they require water, I don’t think that it qualifies as thirst.

There is still a lot to be learned about the world of animal senses and what we experience in our daily lives.

We can certainly learn a lot from studying the way that fish live.

Why Don’t Fish Need To Drink Water?

For many of the same reasons that we need water, fish need water to survive, but they don’t have a thirst.

Fish are aquatic and to survive and thrive in their aquatic environment, they can do just fine without drinking water.

There are several different kinds of fish that don’t need to drink anything at all (like lampreys, or some sharks).

For those fish that do drink a little water, it is usually pure fresh or salt water. The water is taken in through the mouth, and not through the gills.

Some fish, like sharks and tunas, eat small aquatic creatures (like plankton) that are normally found in salt water.

This means that they do get their nutrients from the ocean but they don’t actually “drink” anything that is located on land.

Fish Don’t Need To Drink Water

Some fish do drink water. The way that they drink water, or take in the water that they need is different from mammals.

When you drink, you suck up the liquid with your mouth, and then it goes through your throat and into your stomach. This is the way that humans drink water but it’s not how fish do it.

Fish absorb the moisture that they need through their gills when they come into contact with fresh or salt water. They possess special cells that help them absorb the water and keep them hydrated.

Of course, some fish do drink water from time to time. There are different types of fish, though. Some fish drink water by gulping it down.

Gulping is what you might see if you happen to be fishing for trout in a stream for example.

The trout will take in a large amount of water at once and then expel it from their gills to get all the moisture that they need to survive comfortably.

Do Fish Drink When They Eat?

Fish don’t drink water. However, some fish may drink when they eat. This is particularly true of carnivorous fish like trout and salmon.

They will often bite off a small piece of food and then suck the water out of it before swallowing it whole.

Once again, there are different types of fish and some don’t drink anything at all. However, most fish do need to have access to liquid to survive.

Even shark species need the water that they get from their prey to survive. The way that they “drink” is different from mammals because of the way that their bodies work.

Final Thoughts

Do fish get thirsty? I’m sure that they do feel the need to drink a little water from time to time. However, they don’t get the same feeling of thirst that we humans experience.

Several different factors come into play here and all of them affect what kind of behavior a fish will exhibit when it comes to water.

I think that it’s more important for people to understand why fish would restrict their water intake if they need it.

They don’t have the same receptors that we have in our bodies that tell us when we need to replenish the water in our bodies.

That doesn’t mean that they don’t feel thirst, it just means that their thirst is different than ours and there are a lot of other factors involved when it comes to what causes them to exhibit this behavior.