Final answer:
Relocating a saltwater shark to fresh water would disrupt its osmotic balance, likely causing cell swelling and death, as it cannot regulate its internal salt balance in the hypotonic freshwater environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you take a saltwater shark and relocate it to fresh water , the osmotic balance of the shark would be disrupted. Saltwater fish, including sharks, live in hypertonic environments where the water outside their bodies has a higher concentration of salts compared to their internal tissues. Sharks have evolved osmoregulatory mechanisms to cope with this, such as secreting urea and trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) to achieve isotonicity with their marine environments. However, if placed in freshwater, which is hypotonic, the shark's cells would begin to absorb water through the skin and gills. The excessive water intake would cause the cells to swell, and the shark would find it difficult to maintain its internal salt balance and likely would not survive.