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Comparative morphology of photoreceptors in free-living plathelminths — a survey

  • Sensory Structures
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Abstract

In free-living Plathelminthes, the best-known photoreceptors are pigment-cup ocelli, eyes formed of one or several pigmented supportive cells into whose cup-shaped cavity project the light-sensitive elements of one or several sensory cells. Besides these, so-called Sehkolben, photoreceptors lacking pigment granules, are found in some species. Sensory cells in plathelminth photoreceptors most commonly use microvilli as the light-sensitive organelles, but some use cilia and combinations of microvilli and cilia. Lamellate ciliary bodies with cilia whose membranes are strongly flattened and rolled and pericerebral ciliary aggregations with interwoven cilia protruding into an intracellular cavity are likely photoreceptors in that they show amplification of membrane likely to bear photoreceptive pigments. Cells with ballooned cilia and tubular vacuoles are other differentiations to which light-sensitivity has been attributed. A variety of structures serve as lenses, all usually formed from parts of the pigment cell.

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  1. II. Zoologisches Institut und Museum der Universität Göttingen, Berliner Strasse 28, D-3400, Göttingen, Germany

    Beate Sopott-Ehlers

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Sopott-Ehlers, B. Comparative morphology of photoreceptors in free-living plathelminths — a survey. Hydrobiologia 227, 231–239 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027607

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