Regeneration of transplanted chelae in two species of fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator andUca pugnax)

✍ Scribed by Trinkaus-Randall, V.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 886 KB
• Volume: 224
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402240103

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The extensor muscle and chela of unoperated and transplanted regenerated limbs from two species of Uca were examined to test the theory of neurotrophic control on crustacean muscle. Initially, tuberculation patterns, sensory hair number, and claw shape of the transplanted regenerated limb resembled those of the donor. Sarcomere lengths were donorlike except when the transplant was from male to female. Eventually the transplanted regenerated limb acquired some recipientlike features, although the claw shape and sarcomere length measurements of secondary regenerates resembled those of the donor. Because of these findings, it is no longer possible to hypothesize that innervation alone controls the growth and differentiation of muscle.