Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T23:36:50.886Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The attachment of the monogenean Entobdella soleae to the skin of the common sole

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

G. C. Kearn
G. C. Kearn
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, The University, Birmingham 15*
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The muscular saucer-shaped haptor of the monogenean parasite Entobdella soleae is attached to the skin of its host Solea solea by means of a suction pressure generated within the sea-water-filled cavity enclosed between the cup-shaped haptor and the skin of the fish. The suction pressure is produced by the action of a pair of extrinsic muscles which are situated in the body of the parasite. Each extrinsic muscle communicates with the haptor by means of a long tendon which passes through a fair-lead in a prop-like accessory sclerite and is inserted on the end of a girder-like anterior hamulus embedded in the roof of the concavity of the haptor. The pull exerted by the muscles lifts the girders and the roof of the suction cup in which they are embedded relative to the props, thereby producing a suction pressure.

An electron microscope was used to investigate the ultrastructure of the tendon, which was found to consist largely of unbranched banded fibrils which differed from the collagen fibrils of vertebrate tendon in their diameter and periodicity.

I would like to express my thanks to Dr J. Llewellyn for suggesting the problem and for much helpful discussion. I am also grateful to Dr M. P. Osborne for tuition on the cutting of sections for electron microscopy. The work was conducted during the tenure of a Fishery Research Training Grant from the Development Commission.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , May 1964 , pp. 327 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1964

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

Cohn, L. (1916). Epibdella steingröveri n.sp. Z. wiss. Zool. 115, 460–88.Google Scholar
Cooper, A. R. (1921). Trematoda and Cestoda. Rep. Canad. arct. Exped. 9, 1–27.Google Scholar
Gray, E. G. (1959). Electron microscopy of collagen-like connective tissue fibrils of an insect. Proc. roy. Soc. B, 150, 233–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Ham, A. W. & Leeson, T. S. (1961). Histology, 4th ed., pp. 942. London: Pitman Medical Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1963 a). The life cycle of the monogenean Entobdella soleae, a skin parasite of the common sole. Parasitology, 53, 253–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1963 b). The egg, oncomiracidium and larval development of Entobdella soleae, a monogenean skin parasite of the common sole. Parasitology, 53, 435–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1963 c). Feeding in some monogenean skin parasites: Entobdella soleae on Solea solea and Acanthocotyle sp. on Raia clavata. J. Mar. biol, Ass, U.K. 43, 749–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linstow, O. F. B. Von (1889). Beitrag zur Anatomie von Phylline Hendorffi. Arch. mikr. Anat. 33, 163–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llewellyn, J. (1957). The mechanism of the attachment of Kuhnia scombri (Kuhn, 1829) (Trematoda: Monogenea) to the gills of its host Scomber scombrus L., including a note on the taxonomy of the parasite. Parasitology, 47, 30–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llewellyn, J. (1960). Amphibdellid (monogenean) parasites of electric rays (Torpedinidae). J. Mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 39, 561–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llewellyn, J. (1963). Larvae and larval development of monogeneans. Advanc. Parasit. 1, 287–326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skaer, R. J. (1961). Some aspects of the cytology of Polycelis nigra. Quart. J. micr. Sci. 102, 295–317.Google Scholar