Journal of Ocean University of China (Oceanic and Coastal Sea Research)
ISSN 1672-5182, October 30, 2007, Vol.6, No.4, pp.393-397
http://www.ouc.edu.cn/xbywb/
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Histological and Histochemical Analyses of the Cuttlebone
Sac of the Golden Cuttlefish Sepia esculenta
ZHENG Xiaodong1),*, XIAO Shu1), 2), WANG Zhaoping1), and WANG Rucai1)
1) The Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China,
Qingdao 266003, P. R. China
2) Guangdong Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, P. R. China
(Received January 25, 2005; accepted April 3, 2007)
Abstract The secretion function of mantle is closely related to shell formation in some bivalves and gastropods. Up to now, few
researches have been reported for cuttlebone formation in the class Cephalopoda. In this study, the structure and secretion function of
cuttlebone sac of the golden cuttlefish Sepia esculenta was analyzed using the histological and histochemical methods. The results
showed that high and columnar cells located in sac epithelium, and flat cells existed near the base membrane. A lot of fibroblasts
were found in the lateral mantle collective tissue. Some mucus, mucopolysaccharide and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were found in
the sac. The ultrastructural characteristics of Quasi-connective-tissue-calcium cells (QCTCC) were observed using a transmission
electron microscope (TEM). The relationship between cuttlebone sac secretion function and shell formation was discussed.
Key words
Sepia esculenta; cuttlebone sac; histology; histochemistry; transmission electron microscopy
DOI 10.1007/s11802-007-0393-y