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The X-Organ of Crustacea

Abstract

INTEREST in the location and identity of the X-organ of decapod crustaceans has been renewed with the discovery of its neurosecretory nature, for it is one of the major sources for the secretory material of the sinus gland1–3. The total endocrine complex formed by these two organs strikingly resembles the brain – corpora cardiaca complex of insects. The appearance of the X-organ varies in different species; but apparent homologues have been located in the nervous system of the eye-stalk of decapods by either of two methods: (a) from the original observation of Hanström4,5 that it is usually associated with the innervation of the sensory pore or sensory papilla; or (b) from the recent discovery1–3 that the X-organ is linked to the sinus gland by the X-organ sinus gland tract, otherwise called the sinus gland nerve.

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References

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CARLISLE, D., PASSANO, L. The X-Organ of Crustacea. Nature 171, 1070–1071 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/1711070b0

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