Abstract
MANY polychæte annelids appear to darken with age; the lugworm Arenicola marina does so, and the terebellid Amphitrite johnstoni is also brown when old. In terebellids the heart-body becomes bulkier and in lugworms dark tissue around the intestinal vessels increases with age. This darkening is partly due to an accumulation of hæmatin; in Amphitrite johnstoni the dark colour is wholly due to hæmatin, the pigment accumulating in the cœlomic cells as well as in the heart-body. In Arenicola marina the hæmatin in the skin and that in the tissue surrounding the intestinal vessels both show pyridine hæmachromogen bands at 547.5 and 517 mµ. In Amphitrite johnstoni the hæmatin in the cœlomic cells to which, owing to the transparency of the body wall, the hue of the worm is due shows pyridine hæmochromogen bands at 554 and 520 mµ; that from the heart-body at 547 and 516 mµ, reminiscent of meso- rather than proto-porphyrin and similar to the malarial pigment. The hæmoglobin in the blood of both worms, and the hæmoglobin in the cœlomic cells of Amphitrite johnstoni show pyridine hæmochromogen bands at 557 and 525 mµ characteristic of hæms with protoporphyrin nuclei.
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DALES, R. Accumulation of Hæmatins by Polychætes. Nature 197, 1302 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/1971302a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1971302a0
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