Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:57:13.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neuromuscular activity in sea anemone Calliactis parasitica (Couch)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Mary Needler  and
D. M. Ross
D. M. Ross
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, University College, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In a recent study (Ross, 1957) isolated marginal sphincter preparations of the sea anemone, Calliactis parasitica, showed two distinct responses to stimulation: (1) a quick contraction in response to stimuli at frequencies from 0–2 to 3–0 sec, the facilitated response of Pantin (1935 a) beginning only on the second stimulus of a series, with a latent period of about 0 1 sec; (2) a smooth slow contraction in response to stimuli at lower frequencies, with a latent period of not less than 30 sec, and beginning only after several stimuli. This slow movement of the marginal region had not been detected in work on whole animals, but it is similar to the contractions of the ‘slow’ muscles of Calliactis (Pantin, 1935 b) and Metridium (Batham & Pantin, 1950 a). However, Calliactis sphincter shows almost no spontaneous activity.

Both quick and slow contractions had previously been observed in excised sphincters and mesenteric retractors of Metridium (Batham & Pantin, 1954), the chief muscles utilized in the closure of that animal. In all these cases, the quick contraction would seem to be a specialized mechanism for sudden withdrawal superimposed upon, and perhaps developed from, a more primitive and general slow contractile mechanism. As part of a programme to investigate and compare the properties of quick and slow contractions in these muscles it seemed desirable to see what part, if any, slow contractions of the marginal sphincter play in the life of Calliactis. This involved us in a wider study of the neuromuscular activity of this anemone which normally lives on shells inhabited by the hermit crab, Eupagurus bernhardus.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , October 1958 , pp. 789 - 805
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1958

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

Batham, E. J. & Pantin, C. F. A., 1950a. Muscular and hydrostatic action in the sea-anemone Metridium senile (L.). J. exp. Biol., Vol. 27, pp. 264–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Batham, E. J. & Pantin, C. F. A., 1950b. Inherent activity in the sea-anemone Metridium senile (L.). J. exp. Biol., Vol. 27, pp. 290–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Batham, E. J. & Pantin, C. F. A., 1954 Slow contraction and its relation to spontaneous activity in the sea-anemone Metridium senile (L.). J. exp. Biol., Vol. 31, pp. 84–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, G., 1949. The mechanism of opening and closing of Calliactis parasitica. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 28, pp. 641–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoyle, G., 1952. The response mechanism in ascidians. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 31, pp. 287–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koshtoyantz, Ch.S. & Smirnova, N. A., 1955. On the nature of periodic activities in sea anemones. Dokl. obsch. Sobr. AK. Nauk S.S.S.R., Vol. 104, pp. 662–5. (In Russian.)Google Scholar
Pantin, C. F. A., 1935 a. The nerve net of the Actinozoa. I. Facilitation. J. exp. Biol., Vol. 12, pp. 119–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pantin, C. F. A., 1935b. The nerve net of the Actinozoa. II. Plan of the nerve net. J. exp. Biol., Vol. 12, pp. 139–55–CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pantin, C. F. A., 1940. Demonstrations of behaviour in the lower animals. Sch. Sci. Rev., Vol. 84, p. 1132.Google Scholar
Ross, D. M., 1957. Quick and slow contractions in the isolated sphincter of the sea-anemone, Calliactis parasitica. J. exp. Biol., Vol. 34, pp. 11–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, G. P., 1950. Spontaneous activity cycles in polychaete worms. Symp. Soc. exp. Biol., Vol. 4, pp. 127–42.Google Scholar