5 ms·

Sea mammals manage just fine.

umvi 7y ago
Yeah, because they live underwater and can use said water to flush the waste salt. My question is how a non-water mammal gets rid of the waste salt...
- jacobolus 7y ago
  A 1 minute web search shows this to be incorrect. Sea mammals get most of their water from the food they eat (fish, etc.), and don’t drink seawater.
  - umvi 7y ago
    Well then you should be criticizing the person I responded to for suggesting sea mammals have a "gland" that filters salt from water.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - rosser 7y ago
      > ...for suggesting sea mammals have a "gland" that filters salt from water. No-one made any such suggestion. One person lamented that such a gland didn't exist; they did not assert its existence. The other person didn't mention glands at all.
      - umvi 7y ago
        The other person responded "sea mammals manage just fine" after I questioned how a salt gland would work in humans. That infers sea mammals have working salt glands.
        jacobolus 7y ago
        You are mixing up the words “infer” and “imply”. But anyhow, no the other commenter did not imply that sea mammals have extra salt glands that humans do not.
        umvi 7y ago
        > But anyhow, no the other commenter did not imply that sea mammals have extra salt glands that humans do not. The other commenter clearly implied 2 things: 1. sea mammals have salt glands 2. their bodies have solved the problem of removing waste salt from said glands There's no way to interpret the commenter's statement otherwise without it being nonsensical. Sea mammals manage (what exactly) just fine? If you can't see that, then I'm sorry, here's a simpler analogy to illustrate my point: Me: "Pancakes can't be made without flour" Commenter: "French chefs manage just fine" A rational person would deduce that what Person 2 is implying is: "French chefs [are able to make pancakes without flour] just fine", not: "French chefs [are able to make pancakes] just fine"
        mixmastamyk 7y ago
        Not mammals, but some reptiles and birds do. https://seaturtleexploration.com/turtle-tears/ https://seaturtleexploration.com/turtle-tears/
  - dv_dt 7y ago
    This begs the question how do fish get water in seawater environments.
    - jacobolus 7y ago
      Another 1 minute web search turns up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmoregulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmoregulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euryhaline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euryhaline
      - dv_dt 7y ago
        By inference something along those lines had to exist somewhere along the ocean food chain...
  - Retric 7y ago
    That’s not quite correct, “some marine mammals are known to drink seawater at least on occasion” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-can-sea-mammals-drink/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-can-sea-mamma... They do supplement that with water extracted from their food. But unlike humans they are better at expelling salt. “In the seal and sea lion species, for which measurements exist, the animals' urine contains up to two and a half times more salt than seawater does and seven or eight times more salt than their blood.” Human urine on the other hand contains less salt than sea water resulting in dehydration when drinking sea water.

umvi 7y ago

Yeah, because they live underwater and can use said water to flush the waste salt. My question is how a non-water mammal gets rid of the waste salt...

jacobolus 7y ago
A 1 minute web search shows this to be incorrect. Sea mammals get most of their water from the food they eat (fish, etc.), and don’t drink seawater.
- umvi 7y ago
  Well then you should be criticizing the person I responded to for suggesting sea mammals have a "gland" that filters salt from water.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - rosser 7y ago
    > ...for suggesting sea mammals have a "gland" that filters salt from water. No-one made any such suggestion. One person lamented that such a gland didn't exist; they did not assert its existence. The other person didn't mention glands at all.
    - umvi 7y ago
      The other person responded "sea mammals manage just fine" after I questioned how a salt gland would work in humans. That infers sea mammals have working salt glands.
      - jacobolus 7y ago
        You are mixing up the words “infer” and “imply”. But anyhow, no the other commenter did not imply that sea mammals have extra salt glands that humans do not.
        umvi 7y ago
        > But anyhow, no the other commenter did not imply that sea mammals have extra salt glands that humans do not. The other commenter clearly implied 2 things: 1. sea mammals have salt glands 2. their bodies have solved the problem of removing waste salt from said glands There's no way to interpret the commenter's statement otherwise without it being nonsensical. Sea mammals manage (what exactly) just fine? If you can't see that, then I'm sorry, here's a simpler analogy to illustrate my point: Me: "Pancakes can't be made without flour" Commenter: "French chefs manage just fine" A rational person would deduce that what Person 2 is implying is: "French chefs [are able to make pancakes without flour] just fine", not: "French chefs [are able to make pancakes] just fine"
      - mixmastamyk 7y ago
        Not mammals, but some reptiles and birds do. https://seaturtleexploration.com/turtle-tears/ https://seaturtleexploration.com/turtle-tears/
- dv_dt 7y ago
  This begs the question how do fish get water in seawater environments.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    Another 1 minute web search turns up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmoregulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmoregulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euryhaline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euryhaline
    - dv_dt 7y ago
      By inference something along those lines had to exist somewhere along the ocean food chain...
- Retric 7y ago
  That’s not quite correct, “some marine mammals are known to drink seawater at least on occasion” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-can-sea-mammals-drink/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-can-sea-mamma... They do supplement that with water extracted from their food. But unlike humans they are better at expelling salt. “In the seal and sea lion species, for which measurements exist, the animals' urine contains up to two and a half times more salt than seawater does and seven or eight times more salt than their blood.” Human urine on the other hand contains less salt than sea water resulting in dehydration when drinking sea water.