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Ultrastructure of nematocytes and one-celled tentacles of the freshwater coelenterate, Calpasoma dactyloptera

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Summary

Calpasoma dactyloptera, a tentacled form of minute, freshwater coelenterate, has been investigated by light and electron microscopy and time-lapse cinematography. Each tentacle consists of a protrusion from a single ectodermal epithelial cell termed a tentaculocyte. hin tentaculocyte vesicles which represent invaginations of the plasma membrane. A cnidocil protrudes into the external medium. The bottom of each nematocyte is elongated as a stalk which extends to the tentacle base, coursing through tubular membrane lined channels within the tentaculocyte. A network of fibers and microtubules, originating in the cnidocil, extends to the base of the nematocyte stalk.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, California

    Richard D. Campbell

  2. Department of Zoology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem

    Menachem Rahat

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  1. Richard D. Campbell
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  2. Menachem Rahat
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Supported by PHS Research Career Development Award 1-K04-GM42595 and NSF Research Grant GB 29284.

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Campbell, R.D., Rahat, M. Ultrastructure of nematocytes and one-celled tentacles of the freshwater coelenterate, Calpasoma dactyloptera . Cell Tissue Res. 159, 445–457 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00221702

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00221702

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