Are the cells of marine animals and flora equipped with special
ion exchange pumps to mitigate the effects of a saline-rich
environment? Or have the cell's membranes adapted through
structural changes to counter the osmotic forces? This 1969
Steensland paper seems to suggest that the membranes of
halophiles are stabilized by sodium ions and they rapidly
denature at lower-salt conditions (2.2 vs. 4.3 M). The protein
composition of the membrane was generally acidic, stabilized by
all the Na+. As far as what the role of the halophile membrane
is in sheltering the cell from the high ionic strength solution
seems left unsaid.