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The metamorphosis of the parenchymula-larva of Ephydatia fluviatilis (Porifera, Spongillidae)

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Summary

The sexual development of Ephydatia fluviatilis involves a ciliated parenchymula-larva. The mature larva leaves the body of the “mother” sponge through the excurrent canal system and arrives eventually in the outside world by way of the osculum. At this stage the types of cells found in the adult sponge are already present in the larva. The released larva swims around for a while and then, after a period of between 3 and 48 hours, it attaches, usually with the anterior, larval cavity-bearing pole, onto the substratum. While it is attaching and spreading itself out, the larva undergoes a metamorphosis. The most notable stages of this metamorphosis are as follows: (a) disintegration of the ciliated epithelium from the anterior pole of the larva and its substitution by a pinacocyte epithelium, (b) splitting of the larval cavity and (c) integration of the remains into the developing canal system together with the creation and further development of the organic features of a functioning sponge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Entwicklungsgeschichtliche Abteilung, Zoologisches Institut der Universität Bonn, Poppelsdorfer Schloß, D-5300, Bonn 1, Federal Republic of Germany

    Christine Wielspütz & Uwe Saller

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  1. Christine Wielspütz
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  2. Uwe Saller
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Wielspütz, C., Saller, U. The metamorphosis of the parenchymula-larva of Ephydatia fluviatilis (Porifera, Spongillidae). Zoomorphology 109, 173–177 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312468

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312468

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