ISSN:
1432-0878
Keywords:
Integument
;
Octopus
;
Setae
;
Secretion
;
Microvilli
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Summary Kölliker's tufts are transient epidermal bristles found on the external surfaces of late embryonic and juvenile octopods. The structure and growth of Kölliker's tuft is remarkably similar to that of polychaete setae. Each tuft is a fasicle of approximately 1500 distally tapered cannular rodlets located in an epidermal follicle composed of several lateral follicular cells and a single basal chaetoblast. The base of the follicle is associated with obliquely striated dermal muscle fibers. Together these elements comprise Kölliker's organ. The rodlets, composed of longitudinally oriented filaments, are separated basally from one another by a layered meshwork of interstitial filaments. Microvilli on the apical concave surface of the scyphate chaetoblast insert into the base of each rodlet. We infer that the tuft elongates by basal appositional growth and that glycoprotein secreted by the follicle cells is organized into filaments by the apical plasmalemma of the chaetoblast. Each microvillus serves as a template for the formation of a rodlet, therefore the number, size, shape, distribution and dynamic activity of the microvilli determine the morphology of the tuft.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00224540
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