Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2009
Rainbow & Walker (1977) have described the histology, histochemistry and ultrastructure of the barnacle alimentary tract and this study continues the overall investigation into barnacle digestive physiology. Possible sites of alimentary absorption in the barnacle tract have been proposed from histological (see Törnävä, 1948) and histochemical and ultrastructural evidence (Rainbow & Walker, 1977) but no direct studies on sites of absorption have previously been made. Similarly, although it has long been known that barnacles produce discrete faecal pellets (Darwin, 1851), the time interval between ingestion and defaecation has not been determined.