QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Taylor, A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Taylor, A.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 64, Issue 3 751-759, Copyright © 1976 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

The cardiac responses to shell opening and closure in the bivalve Arctica islandica (L.)

AC Taylor

Shell closure in Arctica islandica is followed by an exponential decrease in the oxygen tension of the mantle cavity water and is accompanied by an initial increase in heart rate which is followed at lower oxygen tensions by a bradycardia. Prior to shell opening there is a slight increase in heart rate before any movement of the shell valves can be detected. However, once the shell opens and pumping activity recommences there is a rapid increase in heart rate, often to levels above normal. Perfusion of the mantle cavity with water of high and low oxygen tension resulted in the cardiac responses normally associated with shell opening and closure. Recordings of the PO2 of the blood in the ventricle, made simultaneously with cardiac recordings, showed that the changes in heart rate were recorded only after the PO2 of the blood had changed. These experiments suggest that changes in the PO2 of the mantle cavity water may be primarily responsible for the cardiac responses to shell closure in Arctica.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Ortmann and M. K. Grieshaber Energy metabolism and valve closure behaviour in the Asian clam Corbicula fluminea J. Exp. Biol., November 15, 2003; 206(22): 4167 - 4178. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]