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Movement receptors in decapod Crustacea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

C. A. G. Wiersma
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology, From the Plymouth Laboratory and Department of Zoology, Cambridge

Extract

The sense organ of Carcinus mamas located in the joint between the dactylo- and propodite possesses several types of sense cells (Wiersma & Boettiger, 1958). The most interesting types react to unidirectional displacement of the dactylopodite with equal sensitivity over the total possible arc of movement. Velocity has little influence on the discharges of the movement fibres since the maximum rate of firing is reached at a speed which is relatively little faster than the threshold. Fibres with marked differences in threshold are present for both extension and flexion. Other units in the organ react like conventional stretch receptors and give continuous discharges as long as the joint is near one of the extreme positions. Again different units are present for extension and for flexion. These position fibres are on the whole smaller than the movement fibres and their cell bodies have a more peripheral location in the organ.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1959

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References

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