Despite the continuing success of intracellular recordings from retinal cells in vertebrates, an understanding of information processing in these systems is hampered by the number of different cell types present in these eyes, their small size, and the complexity of interconnexions between them. To circumvent these problems, simpler preparations have been sought for the study of retinal integra...

BAILLIE, P., TURNER, E. & QUILTY, P.G., 1985 (31:vii): Late Pleistocene marine sediments and fossils from Mussel Roe Bay, northeastern Tasmania. Pap. Proc.R.Soc. Tasm. 119:83-87. ISSN 0080-4703. Geological Survey of Tasmania, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Antarctic Division, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Foraminiferaand mollusc-bearing estuarine sediments were encountered in one of a seri...

of development up to ready-to-hatch juveniles 2.5 mm in length. Based on their morphology and development in egg masses maintained in the laboratory, the embryonic period for B. hodgsoni is estimated to be up to 10 years, and for D. kerguelenensis 13 months. Thus, B. hodgsoni has the largest egg capsules and probably the largest hatchlings of any mollusc. Chemical analyses of D. kerguelenensis ...

Individuals of Achatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822) were observed preying on veronicellid slugs at two sites on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. As such, the presence of A. fulica may pose a greater threat to terrestrial mollusc conservation than previously imagined. It is our hope that this note provides some impetus for other researchers to explore the possible predation impacts of introduced populatio...

Positive and negative aspects of species interactions can be context dependant and strongly affected by environmental conditions. We tested the hypothesis that, during periods of intense heat stress, parasitic phototrophic endoliths that fatally degrade mollusc shells can benefit their mussel hosts. Endolithic infestation significantly reduced body temperatures of sun-exposed mussels and, durin...

We present evidence of rapid and reliable associative learning by the terrestrial mollusc, Limax maximus. Slugs were exposed once to a pairing of a highly attractive food odor (potato or carrot) and a saturated solution of quinidine sulfate, a bitter-tasting plant substance. In comparison with control slugs, the exposed slugs subsequently displayed a markedly reduced preference for the odor pai...

Most complex behaviors appear to be governed by internal motivational states or drives that modify an animal's responses to its environment. It is therefore of considerable interest to understand the neural basis of these motivational states. Drawing upon work on the neural basis of feeding in the marine mollusc Aplysia, we have developed a heterogeneous artificial neural network for controllin...

Optical methods for monitoring changes in membrane potential have been used to measure action potential activity in the buccal ganglion of an opisthobranch mollusc, Navanax inermis, while the animal was feeding. During feeding activity was detected in 10-15% of the approximately 200 neurons present in the ganglion. Control experiments carried out to determine the completeness of the optical rec...

Almost the entire sequences of 18S rDNA were determined for two chaetognaths, five echinoderms, a hemichordate, and two urochordates (a larvacean and a salp). Phylogenetic comparisons of the sequences, together with those of other deuterostomes (an ascidian, a cephalochordate, and vertebrates) and protostomes (an arthropod and a mollusc), suggest the monophyly of the deuterostomes, with the exc...

Mollusc defensive system that discriminates self from non self molecules, include fixed cells that can trap particles like endothelial cells, reticular and pore-cells, and circulating elements (WPW Van Der Knaap & ES Loker 1990 Parasitol Today 6: 175-182). Hemocytes, cells with phagocytic capacity, are determinant elements in the resistance or susceptibility of Biomphalaria snails to the tremat...