Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cnidaria: Cnidae

  • Chapter
Biology of the Integument

Abstract

Members of the Phylum Cnidaria are characterized by the possession of cnidae, those curious, everting, intracellular organelles that have both startled and intrigued humans for thousands of years. The cnidae of some anthozoans (sea anemones, corals, etc.) are perhaps the largest intracellular secretion products yet discovered, with some reaching a length of over 100 μm. Of the three major categories discovered to date (nematocysts, spirocysts and ptychocysts), nemato-cysts remain the best known because of their remarkable stinging properties. In fact, the rapidity of death following human contact with some tropical cubo-medusans (Cleland and Southcott 1965) suggests that, on the basis of the quantity of venom delivered as a function of the victim’s body weight, certain cnidar-ians are among the most deadly organisms on Earth.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bigger CH (1976) The acrorhagical response in Anthopleura krebsi: intraspecific and interspecific recognition. In: Mackie GO (ed) Coelenterate ecology and behavior. Plenum Press, New York London, p 127

    Google Scholar 

  • Bigger CH (1982) The cellular basis of the aggressive acrorhagial response of sea anemones. J Morphol 173:259–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanquet RS (1977) Cnidarian venoms. In: Bernheimer AW (ed) Perspectives in toxinology. Wiley, New York, p 150

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanquet R, Lenhoff HM (1966) A disulfide-linked collagenous protein of nematocyst capsules. Science 154:152–153

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett JW, Calton GJ (1977) The chemistry and toxicology of some venomous pelagic coelen-terates. Toxicon 15:177–196

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carré D (1980) Hypothèse sur le mécanisme de Invagination du filament urticant des cnido-cystes. Eur J Cell Biol 20:265–271

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carré D, Carré C (1980) On triggering and control of cnidocyst discharge. Mar Behav Physiol 7:109–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cleland JB, Southcott RV (1965) Injuries to man from marine invertebrates in the Australian region. Commonw Aust Nat Health Med Res Counc Spec Rep 12:1–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Conklin EJ, Mariscal RN (1976) Increase in nematocyst and spirocyst discharge in a sea anemone in response to mechanical stimulation. In: Mackie GO (ed) Coelenterate ecology and behavior. Plenum Press, New York London, p 549

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook CB (1976) Sulfate utilization in green hydra. In: Mackie GO (ed) Coelenterate ecology and behavior. Plenum Press, New York London, p 415

    Google Scholar 

  • Cormier SM, Hessinger DA (1980a) Cnidocil apparatus: sensory receptor of Physalia nemato-cytes. J Ultrastruct Res 72:13–19

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cormier SM, Hessinger DA (1980b) Cellular basis for tentacle adherence in the Portuguese man-of-war Physalia physalis. Tissue Cell 12:713–721

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Couet HG de (1982) Coelenterate nematocysts bind immunoglobulins. Experientia 38:353–354

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson S (1974) Larval settlement of a symbiotic hydroid: specificity and nematocyst responses in planulae of Proboscidactyla flavicirrata. Biol Bull 147:573–585

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doumenc D (1971) Aspects morphologiques de la dévagination du spirocyste chez Actinia equina L. J Microsc 12:263–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Halstead BW (1978) Poisonous and venomous marine animals of the world. Darwin Princeton NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Hausmann K (1978) Extrusive organelles in protists. In: Bourne GS, Danielli JF, Jeon KW (eds) International review of cytology. Academic Press, London New York, p 197

    Google Scholar 

  • Lal DM, Calton GJ, Neeman I, Burnett JW (1981) Characterization of Chrysaora quinquecirrha (sea nettle) nematocyst venom collagenase. Comp Biochem Physiol 69 B: 529–533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lubbock R (1979) Chemical recognition and nematocyte excitation in a sea anemone. J Exp Biol 83:283–292

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lubbock R (1980) Clone-specific cellular recognition in a sea anemone. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 77:6667–6669

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lubbock R, Amos WB (1981) Removal of bound calcium from nematocyst contents causes discharge. Nature (London) 290:500–501

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lubbock R, Shelton GAB (1981) Electrical activity following cellular recognition of self and non-self in a sea anemone. Nature 289:59–60

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lubbock R, Gupta BL, Hall TA (1981) Novel role of calcium in exocytosis: mechanism of nematocyst discharge as shown by x-ray microanalysis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 78:3624–3628

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN (1971) Effect of a disulfide reducing agent on the nematocyst capsules from some coelenterates with an illustrated key to nematocyst classification. In: Lenhoff HM, Muscatine L, Davis LV (eds) Experimental coelenterate biology. Univ Hawaii Press, Honolulu, p 157

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN (1972) The nature of the adhesion to shells of the symbiotic sea anemone Calliactis tricolor Leseur. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 8:217–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN (1974a) Nematocysts. In: Muscatine L, Lenhoff HM (eds) Coelenterate biology: reviews and new perspectives. Academic Press, London New York, p 129

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN (1974b) Scanning electron microscopy of the sensory epithelia and nematocysts of corals and a corallimorpharian sea anemone. Proc 2nd Int Coral Reef Symp 1:519–532

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN (1974c) Scanning electron microscopy of the sensory surface of the tentacles of sea anemones and corals. Z Zeilforsch 147:149–156

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN (1980) The elemental composition of nematocysts as determined by x-ray microanalysis. In: Tardent P, Tardent R (eds) Developmental and cellular biology of coelenter-ates. Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam New York, p 337

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN, Bigger CH (1976) A comparison of putative sensory receptors associated with nematocysts in an anthozoan and a scyphozoan. In: Mackie GO (ed) Coelenterate ecology and behavior. Plenum Press, New York London, p 559

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN, McLean RB (1976) The form and function of cnidarian spirocysts. 2. Ultrastructure of the capsule tip and wall and mechanism of discharge. Cell Tissue Res 169:313–321

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN, Bigger CH, McLean RB (1976) The form and function of cnidarian spirocysts. 1. Ultrastructure of the capsule exterior and relationship to the tentacle sensory surface. Cell Tissue Res 168:465–474

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN, Conklin EJ, Bigger CH (1977a) The ptychocyst, a major new category of cnida used in tube construction by a cerianthid anemone. Biol Bull 152:392–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN, McLean RB, Hand C (1977b) The form and function of cnidarian spirocysts. 3. Ultrastructure of the thread and the function of spirocysts. Cell Tissue Res 178:427–433

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal RN, Conklin EJ, Bigger CH (1978) The putative sensory receptors associated with the cnidae of cnidarians. In: Becker RP, Johari O (eds) Scanning electron microscopy 1978, vol II. Scanning Electron Microscopy Ine O’Hare, Chicago, p 959

    Google Scholar 

  • McFarlane ID, Shelton GAB (1975) The nature of the adhesion of tentacles to shells during shell-climbing in the sea anemone Calliactis parasitica (Couch). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 19:177–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Picken LER, Skaer RJ (1966) A review of researches on nematocysts. In: Rees WJ (ed) The Cnidaria and their evolution. Symp Zool Soc London, vol 16. Academic Press, London New York, pp 19–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Robson EA (1973) The discharge of nematocysts in relation to properties of the capsule. Publ Seto Mar Biol Lab 20:653–665

    Google Scholar 

  • Satterlie RA, Case JF (1978) Neurobiology of the gorgonian coelenterates, Muricea californica and Lophogorgia chilensis. Cell Tissue Res 187:379–396

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Satterlie RA, Case JF (1980) Neurobiology of the stoloniferan octocoral Clavularia sp. J Exp Zool 212:87–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt GH (1982) Replacement of discharged cnidae in the tentacles of Anemonia sulcata. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 62:685–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt H (1974) On evolution in the Anthozoa. Proc 2nd Int Coral Reef Symp 1:553–560

    Google Scholar 

  • Skaer RJ, Picken LER (1965) The structure of the nematocyst thread and the geometry of discharge in Corynactis viridis Allman. Philos Trans R Soc (Lond) [Biol] 250:131–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith S, Oshida J, Bode H (1974) Inhibition of nematocyst discharge in hydra fed to repletion. Biol Bull 147:186–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spaulding JG (1972) Peachia quinquecapitata, an anemone parasitic on medusae during its larval development. Biol Bull 143:440–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tardent P, Holstein T (1982) Morphology and morphodynamics of the stenotele nematocyst of Hydra attenuata Pall. (Hydrozoa, Cnidaria). Cell Tissue Res 224:269–290

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weill R (1934) Contribution á l’étude des cnidaires et leurs nématocystes. Trav St Zool Wimer-eux 10, 11

    Google Scholar 

  • Werner B (1965) Die Nesselkapseln der Cnidaria, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Hy-droida. I. Klassifikation und Bedeutung für die Systematik und Evolution. Helgol Wiss Meeresunters 12:1–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westfall JA (1965) Nematocysts of the sea anemone Metridium. Am Zool 5:377–393

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Williams RB (1968) Control of the discharge of cnidae in Diadumene luciae (Verrill). Nature 219:959

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306, USA

    Richard N. Mariscal

Authors
  1. Richard N. Mariscal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Kinematische Zellforschung, Postfach 111932, D-6000, Frankfurt a.M., Germany

    Jürgen Bereiter-Hahn

  2. Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, 80 East Concord Street, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    A. Gedeon Matoltsy

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire ST5, 5BG/GB, UK

    K. Sylvia Richards

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1984 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mariscal, R.N. (1984). Cnidaria: Cnidae. In: Bereiter-Hahn, J., Matoltsy, A.G., Richards, K.S. (eds) Biology of the Integument. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51593-4_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51593-4_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-51595-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-51593-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation