Siphuncle

Siphuncle

The siphuncle is a strand of tissue passing longitudinally through the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. Only cephalopods with chambered shells have siphuncles, such as the extinct ammonites and belemnites, and the living nautiluses, cuttlefish, and "Spirula". In the case of the cuttlefish, the siphuncle is indistinct and connects all the small chambers of that animal's highly modified shell; in the other cephalopods it is thread-like and passes through small openings in the walls dividing the chambers of the shell.

In living cephalopods the siphuncle is used primarily in emptying water from new chambers as the shell grows. Essentially what happens is the cephalopod increases the saltiness of the blood in the siphuncle, and the water moves from the more dilute chamber into the blood through osmosis. At the same time gas, mostly nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, diffuses from the blood in the siphuncle into the emptying chamber, filling it up with gas. Note that the cephalopod does not pump up the shell; the gas moving into the chamber is a passive process, instead the energy is used in absorbing the water from the chamber.

Removing water from the chambers of the shell reduces the overall density of the shell, and thus the shell behaves as a flotation device comparable to the swim bladder in bony fish. Typically, cephalopods maintain a density close to that of sea water, allowing them to swim with the minimum of effort. In the geologic past, many cephalopods grew to an enormous size (over ten meters in length) thanks to this.

What the siphuncle is generally unable to do is provide a way to change rapidly the density of shell and thus cause the animal to rise or sink at will; rather, the animal must swim up or down as required.

The siphuncle in fossil cephalopods is assumed to have worked in the same general way. The siphuncle itself only rarely gets preserved, but many fossils show the holes, called "septal necks" (or "siphuncle notches"), through which the siphuncle passed. In most fossil nautiluses, the siphuncle runs more or less through the center of each chamber, but in ammonites and belemnites it usually runs along the ventral surface. In some fossil straight shelled nautiluses cylindrical calcareous growths ("siphuncular deposits") around the siphuncle can be seen towards the apex of the shell. These were apparently counterweights for the soft body at the other end of the shell, and allowed the nautilus to swim in a horizontal position. Without these deposits, the apex of the buoyant shell would have pointed upwards and the heavier body downwards, making horizontal swimming difficult.

siphuncle"Italic text"


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Siphuncle — Si phun cle, n. [L. siphunculus, sipunculus, dim. of sipho. See {Siphon}.] (Zo[ o]l.) The tube which runs through the partitions of chambered cephalopod shells. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • siphuncle — Siphon Si phon, n. [F. siphon, L. sipho, onis, fr. Gr. ??? a siphon, tube, pipe.] 1. A device, consisting of a pipe or tube bent so as to form two branches or legs of unequal length, by which a liquid can be transferred to a lower level, as from… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • siphuncle — ˈsīˌfəŋkel noun ( s) Etymology: New Latin siphunculus, from Latin, little pipe, diminutive of sipho, siphon siphon more at siphon 1. a. : a membranous tubular extension of the mantle which runs through the partitions of the chambers to the apex… …   Useful english dictionary

  • siphuncle — n. [Gr. dim. siphon, tube] 1. (ARTHROPODA: Insecta) see cornicle. 2. (MOLLUSCA: Cephalopoda) A tubular vascular extension borne at the apex of the visceral hump, that runs through the outer chambers of the nautiloid shell and secretes gas into… …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • siphuncle — siphuncular, siphunculate /suy fung kyeuh lit/, siphunculated /suy fung kyeuh lay tid/, adj. /suy fung keuhl/, n. 1. (in a nautilus) the connecting tube that passes from the end of the body through all of the septa to the innermost chamber. 2.… …   Universalium

  • siphuncle — noun A strand of tissue passing longitudinally through the shell of a cephalopod mollusk, used primarily in emptying water from new chambers as the shell grows …   Wiktionary

  • siphuncle — si·phun·cle …   English syllables

  • Ellesmerocerida — Taxobox name = Ellesmerocerida fossil range = U Cambrian Ordovician regnum = Animalia phylum = Mollusca classis = Cephalopoda subclassis = Nautiloidea ordo = Ellesmerocerida ordo authority = Flower 1950 The Ellesmerocerida comprise early… …   Wikipedia

  • Discosorida — Temporal range …   Wikipedia

  • Nautilus — For other uses, see Nautilus (disambiguation). Nautilus Temporal range: Triassic–Present[1] …   Wikipedia

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