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Crabs don't urinate in the typical sense. Waste from nitrogen metabolism is not concentrated into a urinary bladder like mammals; aquatic crustaceans are able to dissolve wastes directly into the water through their gills. This is important since nitrogenous waste mostly takes the form of ammonia (not urea) which is highly toxic. Studies indicate that energy expenditures for physical processes at the gills focus on uptake of oxygen, which is sparsely dissolved in water, not the elimination of wastes like ammonia, ammonium, or carbon dioxide. Because of the relative ease of elimination of the highly soluble ammonia and the more urgent need for oxygen uptake at the gills, the nitrogenous waste excretion process can be fairly described as 'passive'.

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11y ago

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