Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-05T01:54:03.521Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ultrastructure and function Of the proboscis in Melanella alba (Gastropoda: Eulimidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Timothy B. Smith
Timothy B. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University College, Galway, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The free living eulimid gastropod Melanella alba Bowdich, 1822 is a temporary ectoparasite on echinoderms and, in Kilkerrin Bay on the west coast of Ireland, this species is found exclusively associated with the holothuroid Neopentadactyla mixta (Östergren), 1898. Melanella utilizes a highly specialized acrembolic proboscis to penetrate the integument and ingest the internal tissues of this holothuroid. That portion of the proboscis which penetrates integument bears a highly developed secretory epithelium composed of granular and goblet secretory cells. As the proboscis is unfolded into the host's integument by a combination of increased hydrostatic pressure and muscular movements, secretory material is released from this epithelium and appears to bring about a rapid loosening of the connective tissue elements of the host. The possible mechanism by which the integumental connective tissue is altered to allow unfolding of the proboscis into the coelomic cavity of the host is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , August 1984 , pp. 503 - 512
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, J. M. 1956. Observations on autotomy in the starfish, Asterias forbesi. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole Mass., 111, 297.Google Scholar
Baer, J. G. 1952. Ecology of Animal Parasites. 224 pp. University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Bouchet, P. S. & Lützen, J. 1980. Deux Gastéropodes parasites d'une Holothurie Elasipode. Bulletin du museum national d'histoire naturelle (Zoologie), 2, 59–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabioch, L.Grainger, J. N. R.Keegan, B. F. & Konnecker, G. 1978. Balds alba (da Costa): a ‘temporary’ ectoparasite on Neopentadactyla mixta Ostergren. In Physiology and Behaviour of Marine Organisms. Proceedings of the 12th European Symposium on Marine Biology, Stirling, Scotland, 1977 (ed. Mclusky, D. S. and Berry, A. J.) pp. 237–241. Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Cheng, T. C. 1967. The Biology of Animal Parasites. London: London: W. B. Saunders Co.Google Scholar
Fretter, V. 1955. Observations on Balcis devians (Monterosato) and Balds alba (da Costa). Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, 31, 137–144.Google Scholar
Fretter, V. & Graham, D. 1962. British Prosobranch Molluscs, xvi, 755 pp. London: Ray Society.Google Scholar
Habe, T. 1952. Parasitic gastropods found in echinoderms from Japan. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, 2, 73–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawaguti, S. 1966. Electron microscopy on the body wall of the sea cucumber with special reference to its mucus cells. Biological Journal of Okayama University, 12, 35–45.Google Scholar
Keegan, B. F. 1974. The macrofauna of maerl substrates on the west coast of Ireland. Cahiers de biologie marine, 15, 513–530.Google Scholar
Menton, D. N. & Eisen, A. Z. 1970. The structure of the integument of the sea cucumber, Thyone briareus. Journal of Morphology, 131, 17–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearse, A. G. E. 1968. Histochemistry: Theoretical and Applied, 3rd edition, vii, 759 pp. London: Churchill.Google Scholar
Pelseneer, P. 1928. Les parasites des mollusques et les mollusques parasites. Bulletin de la Societe zoologique de France, 53, 158–189.Google Scholar
Reynolds, E. S. 1963. The use of lead citrate at high pH as an electron opaque stain in electronmicroscopy. Journal of Cell Biology, 17, 208–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risbec, J. 1954. Observations sur les Eulimidae (Gastropodes) de Nouvelle-Caledonie. Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 26, 109–116.Google Scholar
Smith, G. N. & Greenberg, M. J. 1973. Chemical control of the evisceration process in Thyone briareus. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 144, 421–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, T. B. 1981. Feeding and Aspects of the Nutritional Biology of the Dendrochirote Holothurian Neopentadactyla mixta (Östergreri), 1898 and the Ectoparasitic Gastropod Melanella alba Bowdich, 1822. Ph.D. Thesis, National University of Ireland.Google Scholar
Spurr, A. R. 1969. A low-viscosity epoxy resin embedding medium for electron microscopy. Journal of Ultrastructure Research, 26, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaney, C. 1913. L'adaptation des Gastropodes au parasitisme. Bulletin biologique de la France et de la Belgique, 47, 1–87.Google Scholar
Wainwright, S. A. 1980. Adaptive materials: a view from the organism. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, no. 34, 437–453.Google ScholarPubMed