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Updated: Jul 23, 2026

RNA In situ Hybridization in Whole Mount Embryos and Cell Histology Adapted for Marine Elasmobranchs
Published on: April 12, 2013
Potamotrygon spp.: elasmobranchs with low urea content
Abstract:
All previously reported species of Chondrichthyes, from both marine and fresh water, have contained urea at concentrations ranging from about 300 to 1300 milligrams of urea nitrogen per 100 milliliters of fluid. Body fluids from two species of Potamotrygon, permanent residents of the Amazon basin, contained only 2 to 3 milligrams of urea nitrogen per 100 milliliters. Although they have abandoned the retention of urea exhibited by other chondrichthyans, the extent to which they have lost the mechanisms of retaining and tolerating urea in a hypertonic medium has not been determined.
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