1971/01/01 by Kari N. Passano, L. M. Passano
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Neuroscience · #Cephalopods and Marine Biology #Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology #Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
paper · doi:10.1002/jmor.1051330106
openalex publication_date 1971/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Abstract The endodermal nerve nets of the scyphozoan jellyfish Phacellophora camtschatica and Cyanea capillata were stained with methylene blue. Small animals (3–7.5 cm in diameter) stained easily. The endodermal nerve net of both species is a synaptic net consisting of bipolar and some few tripolar nerve cells with unbranched neurites. The neurites terminate on other neurites. Very few free nerve endings were observed. The neurites have a diameter of 1/4‐1/2 μ and there is no indication of the presence of neurites too fine to be followed in the light microscope. The gross appearance of the net changes with the size of the medusa. Staining 15–53 cm diameter animals showed that the nerve cells increase in size with the size of the animals, that the density of the nerve net decreases. The endodermal nerve net is very similar to our interpretation of the Diffuse Nerve Net of the ectoderm but without the typical primary sense cells. In both cases the appearance of branching neurites is interpreted as an artifact caused by neurites terminating on other neurites.