Strontium is required for statolith development and thus normal swimming behaviour of hatchling cephalopods

When cephalopod eggs were incubated in artificial sea water it was found that they sometimes resulted in hatchlings with defects of the statocyst suprastructure, leading to the severe behavioural defect of uncontrolled swimming. Experiments in defined media (seven basic salts mixed in deionized wate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of experimental biology Vol. 141; no. 1; pp. 187 - 195
Main Authors HANLON, R. T, BIDWELL, J. P, TAIT, R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Company of Biologists 1989
Subjects
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Decapodiformes - embryology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
Life cycle. Embryology. Development
Mollusca
Mollusca - embryology
Mollusca - growth & development
Mollusca - physiology
Motor Activity - physiology
Nutritional Requirements
Octopodiformes - embryology
Physiology. Development
Seawater
Strontium
Swimming
Embryo
Ions
Inorganic element
Marine environment
Morphogenesis
Strontium
Cephalopoda
Locomotion
Mineralization
Development
Statolith
Swimming
Invertebrata
Mollusca
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Summary:When cephalopod eggs were incubated in artificial sea water it was found that they sometimes resulted in hatchlings with defects of the statocyst suprastructure, leading to the severe behavioural defect of uncontrolled swimming. Experiments in defined media (seven basic salts mixed in deionized water) with seven species of cephalopods demonstrated clearly that there is 100% normal development of the aragonite statoliths when strontium levels were 8 mg l-1. Conversely, statoliths did not develop when strontium was absent. In cuttlefish, the growth of the cuttlebone was also affected adversely when strontium was absent. In mariculture production tanks, supplementing commercial artificial sea water with strontium to normal levels of 8 mg l-1 almost eliminated the occurrence of abnormal hatchlings. Circumstantial evidence indicates that there is a critical window in development during which strontium is required for normal development. The role of strontium in biomineralization during embryogenesis is unknown, but it appears to be important in the Mollusca.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0022-0949
1477-9145
DOI:10.1242/jeb.141.1.187