ALBERT

Notes: Abstract Radular function in the muricid gastropod Urosalpinx cinerea follyensis Baker during shell penetration was examined with slow-motion picture photography and scanning electron microscopy. Particular attention was paid to possible injury of buccal structures by radular cusps. The presence of a flexible cuticulated buccal armature, and delicate synchronization of movements of odontophoral cartilages, subradular membrane, teeth, and buccal mass, explain the absence of shredding of live buccal tissues. Some light abrasion was evident, but generally only in the cuticulated gully of the subodontophoral shield, on the rim of the jaw, and on the anterior edge of the esophageal valve. Rasping at the surface of incomplete bore-holes is done by major cusps of rachidian teeth over the bending plane. Marginal teeth lie on the slopes of the odontophore, generally remain depressed below the level of rachidian teeth, and thus scrape the shell only lightly, if at all. The sharp posteriorly recurved shape of central and lateral rachidian cusps enhances their scooping effectiveness. These teeth produce smooth, conspicuous traces in the soft shell of Mya arenaria and shallow traces in the harder shell of Mytilus edulis Linné. The impact of individual cusp strikes was not evident in traces. With wear, rachidian cusps become increasingly blunted, a reflection of their ploughing action over chemically weakened shell, and are eventually sanded flat. Marginal teeth wear primarily at their ends, the tips becoming truncated as they pass lightly over the shell surface. The advancing edge of the odontophore during rasping strokes, plotted on the image from motion pictures moves slowly at first, then more rapidly in the middle of the stroke, and slows again at the end. Duration of strokes ranged from 0.45 to 0.75 sec. Duration of rasping cycles varied from 1.3 to 2.0 sec. The number of transverse rows of teeth passing over the bending plane during the rasping stroke varied from 14 to 32, and the average time for the passage of one transverse row over the bending plane ranged from 20 to 48 msec. The number of transverse rows of teeth remaining exposed beneath the odontophore below the bending plane at the end of the rasping stroke, and between the bending plane and the anterior end of the sulcus in the radular diverticulum, was approximately 10.

Notes: Abstract Burrow morphology, detrital tube formation within the burrow, and ultrastructure of the surface of the burrow of Polydora websteri Hartman, 1943, are described in the shells of Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin) and of Mytilus edulis Linné. Observations were made on live worms living normally in artificial preparations of polished shell covered with transparent plastic film. P. websteri is capable of settling wherever there are crevices in shell surfaces, and slowly penetrates the shell forming a U- or flask-shaped cavity. A detrital tube is formed within the burrow from detritus collected and pressed in place by the worm. During this process, the modified setae of the 5th setiger are thrust against the wall of the inner tube and help to keep the diameter of the inner tube constant throught its length. Individuals of P. websteri burrow into the shell when placed on preparations of polished shell of Mytilus edulis under plastic film. As they do so, they secrete a viscous fluid which dissolves interprismatic and interlamellar organic matrices and then dissolves the exposed crystals. Etched prisms and lamellae reveal a complex pattern of internal dissolution. Enlargement of the burrow by the worm thus takes place by chemical dissolution of shell and also probably by flushing of loosened partially dissolved prisms and lamellae from the tube. Some shell fragments become incorporated in the walls of the detrital tube. There is no evidence of setal abrasion on the shell walls of the burrow even at the ultrastructural level

Notes: Abstract Study of the chemical composition of shell of exoskeletonous organisms in the past has required the sacrifice of the organism. Because the beam of the proton microprobe is relatively nondestructive and analyzes the surface layer of the shell, organisms do not have to be killed. The present paper presents results of a preliminary experiment in which distribution of elements (Na to Sr) in shell of living juvenile oysters, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin), was studied in situ with a proton microprobe at monthly intervals for four months. The relative concentration of 16 elements was measured in the newly deposited prismatic edge of the right valve of three oysters reared in controlled laboratory conditions. Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, and Sr were detected in concentrations as low as a few parts per million relative to the concentration of standards added to pure CaCO3. Concentration of elements varied nominally among shells of the three individual oysters and in their successive ontogenetic stages. Fluctuations in concentration of Na, Mg, S, Cl, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn were generally similar in the two normally growing oysters, but differed from those in the oyster that stopped growing. Trends in concentration of Al, Si, and Sr were similar in the three oysters: those of Br were variable. Relative concentrations of Na, Cl, S, Mn, Fe, and Zn increased slightly with age of oysters, that of the other elements stayed relatively constant. Concentration of most elements was higher in shell than in seawater. Variable concentrations, especially of Na, Cl, and Si in valve edges, tend to support the hypothesis of earlier workers that separate mineral phases are present as impurities entrapped within the shell during calcification.

Notes: Abstract The epsilon-amino groups of lysine and phenolic groups of tyrosine are most heavily concentrated in the newlydeposited organic matrix of the shell of the bivalve Mercenaria mercenaria. A phenoloxidase enzyme which oxidizes L-dihydroxyphenylalanine is present only in this “new” area of the shell matrix. Scanning electron micrographs of calcified secretions of the shell show that accretion lines, thought to be layers of organic matrix separating diurnal acceretions of calcium carbonate, are not developed until up to 4 d after deposition of shell material. These results suggest that the shell matrix is hardened by some kind of polymerization, and that lysine and tyrosine residues in the matrix are involved in the process. Accretion lines in polished and etched sections become visible only after complete hardening of the polymer occurs.

Notes: Abstract We report the results of a study with proton-induced X-ray emissions (PIXE) of the distribution and concentration of 15 chemical elements (Na to Sr in periodic chart) in four microstructural and two mineralogical regions of shell of rapidly growing adult oysters [Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin)]. Hatchery-raised oysters were grown in Broadkill Estuary, Delaware, USA, for 16 wk in summer 1978. Their valve edges were filed as a marker, and the oysters were replaced in the estuary, where they grew rapidly. Shell deposited after marking had a normal microstructure and mineralogy after a narrow zone of disturbance. After 17 d oysters were sacrificed, and different mineralogical and microstructural regions of valves of three oysters, and parts of valves of two oysters, were analyzed for the elements Na to Sr. Quadrats (2.5 × 0.45 mm) included three calcitic groups (prismatic, foliated, chalky) and one aragonitic (myostracal) microstructural group; four quadrats were on the exterior and five on the interior of right and left valves. Inhalant and exhalant margins of valves and ground right and left valves of one oyster were also analyzed. Elemental chemistry of different regions of shell varied among the three microstructural groups within the single calcitic polymorph, between aragonitic and calcitic regions, and between exhalant and inhalant margins of the valves. Elements were most concentrated in the prismatic region of the right valve. Element concentrations were similar in ground right and left valves, except for higher levels of Si, Fe, and Zn in the right valve (corresponding to their high contents in prismatic shell) and of Cl in the left valve (reflecting high concentration in chalky shell, abundant in this valve). Na, Mg, Cl, Cr, Cu, Zn and Br were more concentrated in prismatic than in foliated shell. Chalky shell contained higher concentrations of Na than did prismatic shell, and high concentrations (but lower than in prismatic shell) of Mg, Cl, Ti, Mn, Fe, Zn and Br. Element concentration in myostracum was approximately the same as, or lower than, in foliated shell, except for Sr, which was higher than that in any other shell group. In the right valve most elements were concentrated in inhalant margins, and on the left valve, in exhalant margins. With increased weathering of the exterior surface of prismatic shell, Mg, Si, and Mn increased in concentration and Na, Al, Cl, Ti, Cr, Fe, Br, and Sr decreased.

Notes: Abstract The shell penetrating mechanism of the muricid gastropod Urosalpinx cinerea follyensis Baker was examined with reference to solubilizing effects of the secretion of the accessory boring organ (ABO) on the ultrastructural organic and mineral components of the shell of the bivalve Mytilus edulis Linné. The fine structure of shell etched by the secretion was contrasted with normal shell and shell solubilized artificially by acids, a chelating agent, and enzymes as an aid in interpreting the pattern etched by the secretion. A synoptic series of scanning electron micrographs of representative regions of the normal shell of M. edulis was prepared to serve as a standard for ultrastructural interpretation of the patterns of dissolution. Intercrystalline conchiolin of the mosaicostracal, prismatic, myostracal, and nacreous strata was dissolved as readily as the periostracum by the ABO secretion. In the prismatic region, maximum depth of dissolution of intercrystalline organic matrix occurred when long axes of prisms were approximately perpendicular to the surface being dissolved. Microscopic solubilization of organic matrix noticeably preceded dissolution of mineral crystals, revealing subsurface prisms and lamellae similar in size and form to the distinctively shaped normal shell units. After solubilization of intercrystalline conchiolin, further dissolution by the ABO secretion revealed a variety of what appeared like internal structures in prisms and lamellae. The form of these subunits varied from that of platelets to nodules in prisms and from laths to nodules in lamellae. These intracrystalline patterns of dissolution probably resulted from preferential etching of (a) soluble intracrystalline conchiolin membranes or other internal aggregates of nacrin, (b) heterogeneously distributed trace and minor elements, or (c) from both. Carriker and Williams (1978) hypothesized that a combination of HCl, chelating agents, and enzymes in a hypertonic mucoid secretion released by the ABO dissolve shell during hole boring. The similarity of patterns of dissolution etched by the ABO secretion and those produced artificially by HCl and EDTA in the present study support the hypothesis that these chemicals, or chemicals similar to them, are constituents of the ABO secretion. Lactic and succinic acids and a chitinase-like enzyme were also suggested by Carriker and Williams as possible agents in shell dissolution. Alteration of the shell surface by experimental application of these, and other, chemical agents was not sufficiently comparable to that etched by the ABO secretion to support the suggestion. Preferential dissolution of shell matrix by the ABO secretion is functionally advantageous to boring gastropods because it increases the surface area of mineral crystals exposed to solubilization and facilitates removal of shell units from the surface of the borehole by the radula.