Anatomy & Physiology
The anatomy and physiology of C. acicula and thecosomatous pteropods in general has been sparsely studied due to capture and preservation difficulties associated with the delicate aragonite shell (Gilmer 1974). When rapidly preserved, the body shrinks and distorts making precise anatomical and morphological analysis difficult. Feeding and digestion have been well studied, and further information on this is available on by clicking the designated link on the left.
The adult heart which can be seen in Figure 1, sucks blood from the mantle, whereas the larval heart sucks blood from the velum. In the larval stage, two hearts are present, but after metamorphosis, the larval heart ceases to contract (Bandel & Hemleben 1995).
Figure 1: Anatomical study of adult C. acicula. |