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The relationship of siphuncle size to emptying rates in chambered cephalopods: Implications for cephalopod paleobiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Peter Ward
Peter Ward*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, California 95616
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Abstract

Liquid removal rates in chambers of the living cephalopod Nautilus depend on two factors: the surface area of siphuncular epithelium exposed to liquid in the chambers and the buoyancy of the specimen. In Nautilus made artificially heavy, liquid removal rates are increased as much as five times above neutral buoyancy rates in surface aquaria. Although chamber volume increases faster than siphuncular surface area in successively larger chambers, the increase is small, especially in the last formed dozen chambers. Under conditions of constant liquid removal per unit area of siphuncular epithelium, this means that removal rates of liquid from any two or three successive chambers are nearly constant.

Nautilus shows ranges of chamber volume/siphuncular surface area ratios of .04 cc/mm2 (early, small chambers) to .12–.14 cc/mm2 in late, large chambers. These values are not characteristic of all chambered cephalopods. Comparison of extinct chambered cephalopod taxa with Nautilus indicate a variety of volume/area ratios for similarly sized chambers.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , Fall 1982 , pp. 426 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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