GallonsOfFun
Aquarium Advice Freak
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2015
- Messages
- 309
They are freshwater in the wild but many claim that they live longer and have stronger immune systems in brackish water. I work in research and I'm a little skeptical of this claim; I'm not saying it's wrong, I just want to hear the reasoning/evidence behind it.
They are primarily freshwater in the wild which would make it surprising if their bodies were somehow better suited to brackish water. Evolutionarily speaking, that seems unlikely. I'm worried that the claims of them living longer and being healthier have originated from one persons anecdotal evidence and was subsequently accepted as fact by the internet world (ie. I had this puffer in fresh and this one in brackish, and the brackish one lived longer so it must be because of the brackish water - this evidence isn't reliable). Can someone clear this up for me?
They are primarily freshwater in the wild which would make it surprising if their bodies were somehow better suited to brackish water. Evolutionarily speaking, that seems unlikely. I'm worried that the claims of them living longer and being healthier have originated from one persons anecdotal evidence and was subsequently accepted as fact by the internet world (ie. I had this puffer in fresh and this one in brackish, and the brackish one lived longer so it must be because of the brackish water - this evidence isn't reliable). Can someone clear this up for me?