What animals could drink seawater and not get dehydrated?

Question

A.  human
B.  garter snake
C.  sea gull
D.  freshwater perch
E.  bullfrog

Clarify Question
  What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?
 
Gather Content
What do you already know about the use of seawater? What other information is related to the question?
 
Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
 
Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

C.  sea gull

Clarify Question
  What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        · This question is asking about an animal that is able to become hydrated from sea water.
What type of thinking is required?
        · Apply level:
            o You are being asked to take what you already know and use, or apply, it to the ingestion of seawater by different vertebrates.
 
Gather Content
What do you already know about the use of seawater? What other information is related to the question?
        · Sea water is hypertonic, or saltier, than the body fluids of most organisms that live in a marine environment.
        · Drinking sea water is dehydrating unless a mechanism is present to rid the body of excess salt.
 
Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        · While marine fish are able to excrete excess ions, fresh water fish do not face the issue of excess ions in their environment, in fact they face the opposite issue. Fresh water fish must be able to retain electrolytes.
        · The bullfrog has a kidney that is the same as a freshwater fish, so they too actively conserve electrolytes.
        · The sea gull, as a marine bird, is the only creature listed that can excrete excess salt. Marine birds excrete salt through glands near their eyes.
 
Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        · Apply level:
            o Answering this question correctly depended on your ability to use the elimination of excess salt in a new situation. If you got an incorrect answer, did you remember that freshwater creatures have adapted to conserve electrolytes rather than eliminate them, or that marine birds can drink sea water because they can eliminate the excess ions? Did you have trouble extending the elimination of excess salt to determine the correct answer?