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Fig. 4. Collage of micrographs showing a complete cross section of a jellyfish.
Micrographs were taken using a video capture system and a 25x objective
on an interference contrast microscope. Fibres can be traced from the inner
edge of the exumbrellar epidermis to the gastrodermal lamella. Note the high
degree of branching of the fibres at their ends, and the intertwining of the
fibres with the tissue of the exumbrellar epithelium and the gastrodermal
lamella. Also note the coiled, slack appearance of the fibres in the medial
half of the bell mesoglea and the absence of organisation in the fibres of the
joint mesoglea. The black rimmed circular structures in the micrographs are
air bubbles introduced during the thawing and transfer of the sample from the
microtome to a microscope slide. (Inset) Tracings of the six fibres from
gastrodermal lamella to exumbrella. Air bubbles are shown for orientation. The
path lengths of the tracings were calculated, and a correction (described in
text) applied to derive a reasonable minimum estimate of the unstressed length
of the fibres. Note that the tracings follow a single branch of the fibre in
the highly branched region near the gastrodermal lamella.
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