Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:34:32.218Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The relationship of siphuncle size to emptying rates in chambered cephalopods: Implications for cephalopod paleobiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Peter Ward
Peter Ward*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, California 95616
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Liquid removal rates in chambers of the living cephalopod Nautilus depend on two factors: the surface area of siphuncular epithelium exposed to liquid in the chambers and the buoyancy of the specimen. In Nautilus made artificially heavy, liquid removal rates are increased as much as five times above neutral buoyancy rates in surface aquaria. Although chamber volume increases faster than siphuncular surface area in successively larger chambers, the increase is small, especially in the last formed dozen chambers. Under conditions of constant liquid removal per unit area of siphuncular epithelium, this means that removal rates of liquid from any two or three successive chambers are nearly constant.

Nautilus shows ranges of chamber volume/siphuncular surface area ratios of .04 cc/mm2 (early, small chambers) to .12–.14 cc/mm2 in late, large chambers. These values are not characteristic of all chambered cephalopods. Comparison of extinct chambered cephalopod taxa with Nautilus indicate a variety of volume/area ratios for similarly sized chambers.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , Fall 1982 , pp. 426 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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

Literature Cited

Chamberlain, J. 1978. Permeability of the siphuncular tube of Nautilus: its ecologic and paleoceologic implications. N. Jb. Geol. Palaontol. 3:129–142.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, J. A., Moore, W., and Pillsbury, S. 1981. Flow properties and rupture strength of Nautilus siphuncular tube. Geol. Soc. Am. abst. with programs, Annu. Mtng. 13:425.Google Scholar
Collins, D., Ward, P., and Westermann, G. 1980. Function of cameral water in Nautilus. Paleobiology. 6:168–172.Google Scholar
Denton, E. and Gilpin-Brown, J. 1961. The buoyancy of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis (L.). J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 41:319–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, E. J. and Gilpin-Brown, J. 1966. On the buoyancy of the pearly Nautilus. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 46:723–759.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. and Bossert, W. 1967. Standing-gradient osmotic flow. J. Gen. Physiol. 50:2061–2083.Google Scholar
Greenwald, L., Cook, C. B., and Ward, P. 1982. The structure of the chambered nautilus siphuncle: the siphuncular epithelium. J. Morphol. 175:5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenwald, L., Ward, P. D., and Greenwald, O. E. 1980. Cameral liquid transport and buoyancy control in chambered nautilus (Nautilus macromphaleus). Nature. 286:55–56.Google Scholar
Ward, P. D. and Greenwald, L. 1982. Chamber refilling in Nautilus. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 62:469–475.Google Scholar
Ward, P., Greenwald, L., and Magnier, Y. 1981. The chamber formation cycle in Nautilus macromphalus. Paleobiology. 7:481–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, P., Greenwald, L., and Greenwald, D. 1980. The buoyancy of the chambered Nautilus. Sci. Am. 243:190–203.Google Scholar
Ward, P. and Martin, A. W. 1978. On the buoyancy of the pearly Nautilus. J. Exp. Zool. 205:5–12.Google Scholar
Ward, P., Stone, R., Westermann, G., and Martin, A. 1977. Notes on animal weight, cameral fluids, swimming speed, and color polymorphism of the cephalopod Nautilus pompilius in the Fiji Islands. Paleobiology. 3:377–388.Google Scholar
Wells, M. 1978. Octopus: Physiology and behavior of an advanced invertebrate. 417 pp. Chapman & Hall; London.Google Scholar
Westermann, G. E. G. 1971. Form, structure, and function of shell and siphuncle in coiled Mesozoic ammonoids. Life Sci. Contrib. R. Ontario Mus. 78:1–39.Google Scholar
Westermann, G. E. G. 1973. Strength of concave septa and depth limits of fossil cephalopods. Lethaia. 6:383–403.Google Scholar