> Wish we had a gland that got rid of excess salt then we could just drink sea water.
If such a gland existed, it would probably require a lot of energy to work. Plus, what would the gland do with all of the salt it is filtering just send it to your kidneys/bladder? I'm imagining kidney-stones formed from all the excess salt your body is trying to get rid of
Salicornia bigelovii is an amaranth, sometimes known as "sea beans", "sea asparagus", or "samphire greens". It is edible, and the seeds are an oil crop. It can grow at 200% the mean salinity of ocean water.
It can grow in seawater, brackish water, or effluent from other agriculture or aquaculture. We should be growing more of it.
Atriplex genus are amaranths called "saltbush"; many are edible directly or usable as livestock forage. Atriplex hortensis is a leaf vegetable, like spinach, often paired with sorrel.
Tetragonia tetragonoides is "sea spinach" and has been cultivated as a leaf vegetable.
Attalea speciosa is an oil palm tree.
Anemopsis californica or "yerba mansa" is used as a medicinal herb.
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.
> ...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.
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.
> 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"
If such a gland existed, it would probably require a lot of energy to work. Plus, what would the gland do with all of the salt it is filtering just send it to your kidneys/bladder? I'm imagining kidney-stones formed from all the excess salt your body is trying to get rid of