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Protective skin structures in shell-less marine gastropods

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Abstract

Skin and stomach epithelia of the four suborders of nudibranch gastropods (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) are characterized by large intracellular ovoid disks, here called spindles. These spindles are an evolutionary novelty in the nudibranchs; in shell-less sacoglossan species they are missing. We here examined whether the distribution and occurrence of the spindles is consistent with the assumption of a protective role against discharging nematocysts of co-habiting and prey Cnidaria. Spindles were abundant in epidermal cells of regions exposed to nematocysts, such as the cerata, the lips, the edges of lamellate rhinophores, the surfaces of non-retractile gill-like organs, as well as in the stomach epithelium of eolid and dendronotacean species which feed on Cnidaria. While cells packed with spindles almost exclusively formed the epidermis of eolid and arminacean species, they were less numerous in the skin of dendronotacean and dorid species, where glandular cells predominated. The preponderance of either glandular or spindle cells suggests a dual complementary defense strategy, on the one side the production of mucus coats and aversive glandular secretions, on the other structural defensive devices that are cushion-like entities filled with inert grains.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Edward Koenig (University at Buffalo, USA) for critically reading the manuscript, Christopher Buser for help with high pressure freezing and Holger Krisp for help with the preparation of the digitalized figures. Claus Valentin, Iris Schmidt and staff collected many of the specimens and provided excellent working conditions at their field station at Giglio. The experiments comply with the current laws of Italy and Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Electron Microscopy Facility, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, Ulm, 89069, Germany

    Rainer Martin & Paul Walther

  2. Akademie für Medizinische Berufe, Universitätsklinikum, Schloss-str. 38, Ulm, 89079, Germany

    Karl-Heinz Tomaschko

Authors
  1. Rainer Martin
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  2. Karl-Heinz Tomaschko
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  3. Paul Walther
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Correspondence to Rainer Martin.

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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

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Martin, R., Tomaschko, KH. & Walther, P. Protective skin structures in shell-less marine gastropods. Mar Biol 150, 807–817 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0402-5

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