The sulfated mucopolysaccharide composition of 22 species of invertebrates belonging to the phyla Arthropoda, Mollusca, Annelida, Tunicata, Echinodermata, Coelenterata, and Porifera was analyzed. It is shown that all the species contain variable amounts of one or more types of sulfated mocopolysaccharides, most of which similar to the ones found in vertebrates. It is shown also that each specie...

Homeobox genes encode a family of transcription factors that have essential roles in regulating the development of eukaryotes. Although they have been extensively studied in different phyla, relatively little is known about homeoboxcontaining genes and their function in molluscs. In this study, we used a polymerase chain reaction to investigate homeobox genes in the bivalve mollusc Pecten maxim...

Many marine molluscs are gathered by humans for food or ornament, and the archaeolog ica l record indicates that t radi t ional shellgather ing p layed an important ro le in smal l scale coastal soc iet ies around the world . However, few scienti f ic investigations of the subject have been made, perhaps because shell-gathering is usually done by women whereas anthropological studies often focu...

We estimated the phylogenetic relationships of 15 nemertean (phylum Nemertea) species from the four subclasses Hoplo-, Hetero-, Palaeo-, and Bdellonemertea with 18S rDNA sequence data. Three outgroup taxa were used for rooting: Annelida, Platyhelminthes, and Mollusca. Parsimony and maximum-likelihood analyses supported the monophyletic status of the Heteronemertea and a taxon consisting of hopl...

............................................................................................................................. i Table of contents .............................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ v Chapter ...

Biocenotic research on the benthic fauna from the northwestern part of Lake Ohrid, has shown that different habitats characterize different qualitative compositions of the benthic fauna. The affinity of the macrozoobenthic communities to populate different habitats was investigated in 5 different localities from the northwestern part of Lake Ohrid. Among the five different types of habitats suc...