Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:06:26.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structure and function of the anal sacs of Bonellia viridis (Echiura: Bonelliidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

R. R Harris  and
V. Jaccarini
R. R Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The structure of the anal sacs of the echiuran Bonellia viridis Rolando was studied using SEM, TEM and light microscopy. The characteristic ciliated funnels which open into the coelom and connect it to the lumen of the sac were observed live by interference contrast light microscopy. Clearance of the extracellular marker inulin from the coelomic fluid (Vc = 9·6 ± 1·9 ml 100 g−1 wet weight of animal day−1) indicated that a filtrate of coelomic fluid is produced by the ciliary activity of the funnels. The flow of this filtrate into the sacs is unidirectional. Comparison of the ionic composition and osmolality of the anal sac fluid with the coelomic fluid, and surrounding sea water, indicates that the filtrate passes unmodified by absorptive or secretory processes to the outside. Thus the sacs do not appear to have a clear iono- or osmoregulatory function. During osmotic uptake of water in low salinities the rate of clearance of inulin by the anal sacs did not increase, indicating that their role in volume regulation is insignificant. The reddish-brown granules in the epithelium and lumen of the organ (which give the sacs their characteristic colour) may be important excretory products, and the primary function of the sacs their elimination.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , May 1981 , pp. 413 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1981

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

Baltzer, F., 1931. Echiurida. In Handbuch der Zoologie, vol. 2 (9) (ed. Kiikenthal, W. and Krumbach, T.), pp. 62–168. Berlin and Leipzig: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Belyaev, G. M., 1951. Osmotic pressure of coelomic fluid in invertebrates of the Far East seas. Doklady Akademii nauk SSSR, 80, 121–124.Google Scholar
Berglind, F. & Sorbo, S., 1960. Turbidimetric analysis of inorganic sulphate in serum, plasma and urine. Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation, 12, 147–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brafield, A. E., 1968. The oxygen consumption of an echiuroid Bonellia viridis Rolando. Journal of Experimental Biology, 48, 427–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, W. H., 1940. The composition of fluids and sera of some marine animals and of the sea water in which they live. Journal of General Physiology, 23, 575–584.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dainty, J. & House, C. R., 1966. An examination of the evidence for membrane pores in frog skin. Journal of Physiology, 185, 172–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawydoff, C., 1959. Class des Echiuriens. In Traite de Zoologie, vol. 5 (1) (ed. P-P., Grassé), pp. 855–907. Paris: Masson et Cie.Google Scholar
Dietz, T. H. & Alvarado, R. H., 1970. Osmotic and ionic regulation in Lumbricus terrestris L. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 138, 247–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, W. K. & Macginitie, G. E., 1928. The natural history of an echiuroid worm. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 1, 204–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, C. R., 1974. Volume regulation in Nereis diversicolor. 1. The steady state. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 47 A, 1199–1214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, R. F. H. & Shuttleworth, R. J., 1977. Distribution of dry matter between the tissues and coelom in Arenicola marina (L.) equilibrated to diluted sea water. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 57, 97–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, C. R., 1974. Water Transport in Cells and Tissues. 562 pp. London: Edward Arnold. [Monograph of the Physiological Society, no. 24.]Google Scholar
Kamemato, F. I. & Larson, E. J., 1964. Chloride concentrations in the coelomic and nephridial fluids of the sipunculid Dendrostomum signifer. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 13, 477–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machin, J., 1975. Osmotic responses of the blood worm Glycera dibranchia Ehlers: a graphical approach to the analysis of weight regulation. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 52A, 49–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maluf, N. S. R., 1939. The volume and osmoregulative functions of the alimentary tract of the earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) and the absorption of chlorid from freshwater by this animal. Zoologische Jahrbucher (Abteilung für Allgemeine Zoologie und Physiologie der Tiere), 59, 535–552.Google Scholar
Mangum, C. P. & Johansen, K., 1975. The colloid osmotic pressures of invertebrate body fluids. Journal of Experimental Biology, 63, 661–671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oglesby, L. C., 1969. Inorganic components and metabolism; ionic and osmotic regulation: Annelida, Sipuncula, and Echiura. In Chemical Zoology, vol. 4 (ed. Florkin, M. and Scheer, B. T.), pp. 211–310. New York and London: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsay, J. A., Brown, R. H. J. & Croghan, P. C., 1955. Electrometric titration of chloride in small volumes. Journal of Experimental Biology, 32, 822–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ribgel, J. A., 1972. Comparative Physiology of Renal Excretion. 204 pp. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Simkiss, K., 1977. Biomineralisation and detoxification. Calcified Tissue Research, 24, 199–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. I., 1970. Chloride regulation at low salinities by Nereis diversicolor. II. Water fluxes and apparent permeability to water. Journal of Experimental Biology 53, 93–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thuet, P., 1978. Les transfers d'eau en fcnction de la salinite du milieu chez le Crustace isopode Sphaeroma serratum (Fabricius). Archives internationales de physiologie et de biochimie, 86, 1011–1041.CrossRefGoogle Scholar