title: The digestive tract of Nautilus pompilius (Cephalopoda, Tetrabranchiata): an X-ray analytical and computational tomography study on the living animal.
abstract: Using X-ray analytical studies and computational tomography, the position of the digestive tract of the tetrabranchiate cephalopod Nautilus pompilius L. was demonstrated in a living animal. For the first time, a detailed analysis of the rate of digestion and the duration of the different phases of a digestive cycle has been made using these in vivo methods. At 20 min after food intake, the food has entered the stomach, where it is reduced to small pieces; most is stored in the crop, which is enlarged to approximately four times its original size. The chyme reaches the midgut gland 3 h and the rectal loop 5 h after food intake. The time between food intake and elimination is 12 h. Thus, in Nautilus pompilius, digestion takes approximately the same time as described for nectobenthic sepioids and benthic octopods but is approximately 6 h longer than in loliginids, which have a pelagic mode of life. Furthermore, the three-dimensional structure of the digestive tract of a living Nautilus pompilius L. was demonstrated using computational tomography.
authors: Institut für Allgemeine und Spezielle Zoologie, Bereich Entwicklungsbiologie, Stephanstrasse 24, D-35390 Giessen, Germany. Bettina.Westermann@chemie.bio.uni-giessen.de
authors: Bettina
authors: B
authors: Westermann
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Ruth
authors: Horst Detlef
authors: HD
authors: Litzlbauer
authors: Ingrid
authors: I
authors: Beck
authors: Knut
authors: K
authors: Beuerlein
authors: Henrike
authors: H
authors: Schmidtberg
authors: Erhard F
authors: EF
authors: Kaleta
authors: Rudolf
authors: R
authors: Schipp
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004063:Digestion; D004064:Digestive System / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004068:Digestive System Physiological Phenomena; D004435:Eating; D008974:Mollusca / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed