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A Re-Appraisal of the Fluid Loss Resulting from the Operation of the Water Vascular System of the Starfish, Asterias Rubens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. Binyon
Affiliation:
[Dr. Binyon died in 1983. He was a frequent and most welcome visiting worker at the Plymouth Laboratory and is sadly missed by all of us who knew him. J.V.H.]

Extract

In 1955, Kerkut recorded the spontaneous activities of a tube foot of Asterias rubens L. Such activity consisted of cyclical protraction and retraction phases, one complete cycle lasting on average some 6·5 min (S.D. 2·5). The duration of the protraction phase was on average 4·3 min. It is reasonable to assume that under the conditions of this experiment a similar level of hydrostatic pressure was attained as was found by Binyon (1964), namely 30 cm water. There then followed a fairly rapid retraction of the podium and a quiescent period of some 2·2 min duration. An individual podium would thus execute some 9·2 cycles/h.

Type
Short Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1984

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References

REFERENCES

Binyon, J. 1964. On the mode of functioning of the water vascular system ofAsterias rubens L. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 44, 577588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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