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Salt gland

A specialized gland located around the eyes and nasal passages in marine turtles, snakes, and lizards, and in birds such as the petrels, gulls, and albatrosses, which spend much time at sea. In the marine turtle it is an accessory lacrimal gland which opens into the conjunctival sac. In seagoing birds and in marine lizards it opens into the nasal passageway. Salt glands copiously secrete a watery fluid containing a high percentage of salt, higher than the salt content of urine in these species. As a consequence, these animals are able to drink salt-laden sea water without experiencing the dehydration necessary to eliminate the excess salt via the kidney route.

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From McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. The Content is a copyrighted work of McGraw-Hill and McGraw-Hill reserves all rights in and to the Content. The Work is © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
 

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