Photographic Records of Living Oscular Tubes of Leucosolenia Variabilis II. Spicule Growth, form and Displacement

Abstract

When the oscular tube grows the spicules tend to separate from one another, but the separation is not uniform; local displacements of spicules occur with respect to other spicules in the vicinity. The same is found when the tube elongates while constricting, or changes shape in other ways. The spicule displacements reveal that the mesogloeal matrix is plastic. The spicules are probably anchored to the surface epithelia, the system of anchorage varying with time and from one spicule to another.Small growing spicules may rotate through considerable angles and move relative to the fully grown spicules in their vicinity. The relative movements are most frequently towards the osculum. They are attributed to displacements of either the mesogloeal matrix or the internal epithelium, each relative to the other. They are not likely to be caused by the concerted amoeboid activity of the founder calcoblasts.The monaxons tend to maintain their positions and orientations relative to the tri- and quadri-radiate spicules, apart from small localized displacements. Thus no significant movement of the pinacoderm relative to the rest of the wall could be deduced.Fragments of broken spicules likewise tend to retain their relative positions and orientations in the spicule arrangement, though some moved or rotated by quite considerable amounts.Spicules occasionally disappeared from the wall of some tubes. Monaxons were shed relatively easily, probably as a result of the spicule crowding associated with contraction of the tube. Some tri- and quadri-radiates were also shed through the pinacoderm. In some tubes spicule protrusion occurred at the oscular edge.