Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T14:46:57.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Gill structure in the common limpet Patella vulgata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

M. A. Nuwayhid
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow
P. Spencer Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow
H. Y. Elder
Affiliation:
Institute of Physiology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow

Extract

The gills of Patella consist of a row of triangular shaped leaflets suspended from the roof of the pallial groove. The surface of each gill is thrown into a series of transverse furrows. Tufts of cilia are irregularly distributed over the surface and generate a current of water which flows in the opposite direction to the flow of blood within. The central part of the gill comprises a large haemocoelic space traversed by trabeculae which contain muscle fibres and suggesting that the flow of blood through the gill may be under nervous control. A blood channel runs around the periphery of the gill.

The epithelial layer bounding the blood space comprises a single layer of columnar epithelial cells. The outer surface is protected by a structured mucopolysaccharide glycocalyx held in place by a dense mat of microvilli. The cells contain clearly defined mitochondria, Golgi complex, lysosomes, rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, the non-ciliated cells are characterized by a layer of membrane-bound granules, of unknown function, in the apical cytoplasm.

Phagocytes are frequently found associated with the basement membrane. They contain large membrane-bound granules and appear to move outwards between the epithelial cells to expel the granules at the outer surface of the gill. It is possible that the gill has an excretory as well as respiratory role in the physiology of the animal.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1978

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

Crofts, D. R., 1929. Haliotis. L.M.B.C. Memoirs on Typical British Marine Plants and Animals, 29, 174 pp.Google Scholar
Clrénot, L., 1914. Les organes phagocytaires des mollusques. Archives de zoologie expérimentale et générate, 54, 267305.Google Scholar
Dakin, W. J., 1912. Buccinum. L.M.B.C. Memoirs on Typical British Marine Plants and Animals, 20, 115 pp.Google Scholar
Davies, P. S. & Partridge, T., 1972. Limpet haemocytes. 1. Studies on aggregation and spike formation. Journal of Cell Science, 11, 757769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J. R. A. & Fleure, H. J., 1903. Patella. L.M.B.C. Memoirs on Typical British Marine Plants and Animals, 10, 76 pp.Google Scholar
Fretter, V. & Graham, A., 1962. British Prosobranch Molluscs, Their Functional Anatomy and Ecology. 755 pp. London: Ray Society.Google Scholar
Gusnard, D. & Kirschner, R. H., 1977. Cell and organelle shrinkage during preparation for scanning electron microscopy: effects of fixation, dehydration and critical point drying. Journal of Microscopy, 110, 5157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, G. M. & Grimstone, A. V., 1965. The fine structure of the secondary lamellae of the gills of Gadus pollachius. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 106, 343353.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. M. & Wright, D. E., 1970. A comparative study of the ultrastructure of the water-blood pathway in the secondary lamellae of teleost and elasmobranch fishes in benthic forms. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung und mikroskopische Anatomie, 104, 478493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ito, S., 1965. The enteric surface coat on cat intestinal microvilli. Journal of Cell Biology, 27, 475491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, G., 1955. Use of propylene phenoxytol as a relaxing agent. Nature, London, 175, 434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, G., 1974. Studies on the gill of Mytilus edulis: the eu-latero-frontal cirri. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 187, 8391.Google Scholar
Owen, G. & McCrae, J. M., 1977. Further studies on the latero-frontal tracts of bivalves. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 194, 527544.Google Scholar
Pike, R. B., 1947. Galathea. L.M.B.C. Memoirs on Typical British Marine Plants and Animals, 34, 179 pp.Google Scholar
Rankin, J. C. & Maetz, J., 1971. A perfused teleostian gill preparation: hemodynamic actions of neurohypophysial hormones an d catecholamines. Journal of Endocrinology, 51, 621635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skidmore, J. F. & Tovell, P. W. A., 1972. Toxic effects of zinc sulphate en the gills of rainbow trout. Water Research, 6, 217230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yonge, C. M., 1947. The pallial organs of the aspidobranch Gastropoda and their evolution throughout the Mollusca. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B), 237, 335374.Google Scholar