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Q.What is the nitrogenous waste produced by amphibian larvae and by the adult animal?

Puducherry TnboardTamil Nadu HSC First Year (DGE) Board 2025Subjective· 2mImportance★★★★★
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Amphibians switch their nitrogenous waste as they metamorphose: aquatic larvae excrete ammonia (ammonotelism), while terrestrial adults excrete urea (ureotelism).

The form in which an animal excretes nitrogenous waste (from protein/amino acid breakdown) depends heavily on water availability in its habitat, since ammonia is very toxic and needs large amounts of water to be washed out safely, while urea is much less toxic and can be excreted with far less water.

Amphibian larvae (such as tadpoles) live entirely in water, so they can afford to excrete the simplest and most toxic form of nitrogenous waste, ammonia, directly into the surrounding water where it is rapidly diluted — this mode of excretion is called ammonotelism, and organisms that use it are ammonotelic.

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