Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T07:58:36.578Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The histology and histochemistry of the pedal glandular system of two limpets, Patella vulgata and Acmaea tessulata (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J.-F. Grenon
Affiliation:
N.E.R.C. Unit of Marine Invertebrate Biology, Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd
G. Walker
Affiliation:
N.E.R.C. Unit of Marine Invertebrate Biology, Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd

Extract

Patella vulgata possesses nine different pedal glands, six of which pour their secretions on to the sole. Proteins secreted by the marginal gland into the marginal groove are used for locomotion, especially when the limpet moves off following a period of adhesion. Another protein-secreting subepithelial gland, sparsely present throughout the foot, is also believed to be used in locomotion. A third gland type is present in the epithelium of the sole. The secretion of these epithelial mucocytes which is a weakly acidic muco-polysaccharide (MPS) is likely to have a locomotory function. Three other sole glands secrete highly viscous acidic MPS. Their secretions are likely to have an adhesive function. The three other glands present in the foot are contained within the side-wall. Of these, two are believed to secrete mucus to protect the animal against desiccation during emersion; and the other, present only in young P. vulgata, pours its acidic MPS secretion into the epipodial streak. This secretion consolidates debris before it is cleared from the pallial cavity; in adult animals, muscular contractions of the foot are powerful enough to clear debris without the help of the epipodial gland.

In Acmaea tessulata the six glands present open out on to the sole and correspond in position, composition and function to the six glands of the sole of P. vulgata. There are no glands within the side-wall.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1978

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

REFERENCES

Abe, N., 1931. Ecological observation on Acmaea dorsuosa (Gould). Science Reports of the Tôhoku University, series 4, (Biology), 6, 403465.Google Scholar
Aubin, P., 1892. The limpet's power of adhesion. Nature, London 45, 464465.Google Scholar
Barrnett, R. J. & Seligman, A. M., 1952. The histochemical distribution of protein-bound sulphydryl groups. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 13, 905.Google Scholar
Bonhag, P. F., 1955. Histochemical studies of the ovarian nurse tissues and oocytes of the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dallas). I. Cytology, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates. Journal of Morphology, 96, 381439.Google Scholar
Crisp, D. J., 1973. Mechanism of adhesion of fouling organisms. In Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Marine Corrosion and Fouling in the Sea, Gaithersburg, 1972 (ed. Acker, R. F. et al. ), pp. 691709. Gaithersburg, Maryland: National Bureau of Standards.Google Scholar
Dahl, L. K., 1952. A simple and sensitive histochemical method for calcium. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 80, 474479.Google Scholar
Davis, J. R. A. & Fleure, H., 1903. Patella. L.M.B.C. Memoirs on Typical British Marine Plants and Animals, 10, 76 pp.Google Scholar
Fretter, V., & Graham, A., 1962. British Prosobranch Molluses, Their Functional Anatomy and Ecology. 755 pp. London: Ray Society.Google Scholar
Gainey, L. F., 1976. Locomotion in the Gastropoda: functional morphology of the foot in Neritina recleivata and Thais rustica. Malacologia, 15, 411431.Google Scholar
Gibson, R. J. A., 1885. Anatomy and physiology of Patella vulgata. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 32, 601638.Google Scholar
Glenner, G. C. & Lillie, R. D., 1959. Observations on the diazotization-coupling reaction for the histochemical demonstration of tyrosine: metal chelation and formazan variants. Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, 7, 416422.Google Scholar
Graham, A., 1957. The molluscan skin with special reference to the prosobranch. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, 32, 135144.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. L., 1892. The limpet's strength. Nature, London, 45, 487.Google Scholar
Hunt, S., 1973. Fine structure of the secretory epithelium in the hypobranchial gland of the prosobranch gastropod mollusc Buccinum undatum L. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 53, 5971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, H. D. & Trueman, E. R., 1970. Locomotion of the limpet Patella vulgata. Journal of Experimental Biology, 52, 201216.Google Scholar
Kramer, H. & Windrum, G. M., 1955. The metachromatic staining reaction. Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, 3, 227237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lillie, R. D., 1954. Histopathological Technic and Practical Histochemistry. 501 pp. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
McManus, J. F. A., 1946. The demonstration of certain fatty substances in paraffin sections. Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, 58, 9394.Google Scholar
McManus, J. F. A. & Cason, J. E., 1950. Carbohydrate histochemistry studied by acetylation techniques. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 91, 651.Google Scholar
Menke, H., 1911. Physikalische und physiologische Faktoren bei der Anheftrung von Schuken der Brandungszone. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 37, 1930.Google Scholar
Miller, S. L., 1974. Adaptive design of locomotion and foot form in prosobranch gastropods. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 14, 99156.Google Scholar
Mowry, R. W., 1963. The special value of methods that color both acidic and vicinal hydroxyl groups in the histochemical study of mucins with revised direction of the colloidal iron stain, the use of alcian blue G8X on the combination with the PAS reaction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 106, 402423.Google Scholar
Pearse, A. G. E., 1968. Histochemistry, Theoretical and Applied, 3rd edition. 1518 pp. London: J. A. Church.Google Scholar
Ravetto, C., 1964. Alcian-blue-alcian-yellow: a mew method for identification of different acidic groups. Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, 12, 4445.Google Scholar
Réaumur, M. de, 1711. Des différentés manières dont plusieurs espèces d'animaux de mer s'attachment au sable, aux pierres et les uns aux autres. Mémoires de l'Académie royale des Sciences, 22 avril 1711, pp. 109112.Google Scholar
Rotarides, M., 1945. Zur Mikromorphologie des Fusses der patelloiden Schnecken. Annales historico-naturales Musei nationalis hungarici, 38, 136.Google Scholar
Russell-Hunter, W. D. & Apley, M. L., 1968. Pedal expansion in the naticid snails. II. Labelling experiments using inulin. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 135, 563573Google Scholar
Russell-Hunter, W. D. & Russell-Hunter, M., 1968. Pedal expansion in the naoticid snails. I. Introduction and weighing experiments. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 135, 548562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, J. E. & Dorling, J., 1965. Different staining of acid glycosaminoglycans by alcian blue in salt solution. Histochemie, 5, 221233.Google Scholar
Spicer, S. S., 1965. Diamine methods for differentiating mucosubstances histochemically. Journal of Histochemistry, 13, 211234.Google Scholar
Steedman, H. F., 1947. Ester wax: a new embedding medium. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 88, 123133.Google Scholar
Stefan, J., 1874. Versuche über die scheinbare Adhäsion. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Mathematischnaturwissenschaftliche Classe, 69, 713735.Google Scholar
Thiem, H., 1917. Anatomie von Helcioniscus. Jenaische Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaft, 54, 333404.Google Scholar
Thomas, I. M., 1948. The adhesion of limpets. Australian Journal of Science, 2, 2829.Google Scholar
Webber, H. H., 1969. Uptake of sea water into the fluid spaces of the prosobranch gastropod Acmaea scutum. Veliger, 12, 417420.Google Scholar
Wolcott, T. G., 1973. Physiological Ecology and intertidal zonation in limpet (Acmaea): a critical look at ‘limiting factors’. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 145, 389422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yonge, C. M., 1947. The pallial organs in the aspidobranch Gastropoda and their evolution throughout the Mollusca. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B), 232, 443518.Google Scholar