CHAETOGNATHA

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 789 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CAU-CHA

CHAETOGNATHA , the name given by R. Leuckhart to a small group of transparent and for the most part pelagic organisms, whose position in the animal kingdom is a very isolated one. Only three genera; Sagitta, Spadella and Krohnia, are recognised, and the number of species is small. Nevertheless these animals exist in extraordinary quantities, so that at certain seasons and under certain conditions the surface of the sea seems almost stiff with the incredible multitude of organisms which pervade it. Rough seas, &c., cause them to seek safety in dropping into deeper water. Deep-sea forms also occur, but in spite of this the group is essentially pelagic.
As a rule the

body

BODY

is some r to 2 or 3 cm. in length, though some species are larger, by 4 or 5 mm. in breadth, and it is shaped rt something like a torpedo with side flanges -__he and a slightly swollen, rounded head. It s can be divided into three regions(i.) head, f
(ii.) trunk, and (iii.) tail, separated from one another by two transverse septa. The almost spherical head is covered by a hood which can be retracted; it bears upon its
J side a number of sickle-shaped, chitinous hooks and one or more short rows of low
9 spinesboth of these features are used in characterizing the various species. A pair of eyes lie dorsally and behind them Is a closed circlet, often pulled out into various shapes, of modified epidermis, to which an olfactory

function

FUNCTION

has been attributed. The interior of the head is filled up with masses of muscle fibres which are mainly occupied with moving the sickle-shaped hooks. The
r s trunk contains a spacious

body

BODY

-cavity filled during the breeding season by the swollen ovaries, and the same is true of the tail if we substitute testes for ovaries.
The skin consists of a transparent cuticle
excreted by the underlying ectoderm, the
Spadella cephaloptera cells of which though usually one-layered
may be heaped up into several layers in
(Busch). the head; beneath this is a basement St, Septa dividing membrane, and then a layer of longitudinal
body-cavity trans- muscle fibres which are limited inside by a
versely. layer of peritoneal cells. The muscles are
Cerebral ganglia. striated and arranged in four quadrants, Commissure unit- two dorso-lateral and two ventro-lateral, ing this with ven- an arrangement which recalls that of the tral ganglion (not Nematoda, whilst in their histology they
shown in fig.). somewhat resemble the muscles of the
n2, Nerve uniting sere- Oligochaeta. Along each side of the body bral ganglia with stretches a

horizontal

HORIZONTAL

fin and a similar small ganglia on flange surrounds the tail. Into these fins,
head. which are largely cuticular and strengthened
nr, Olfactory nerve. by radiating bars, a single layer of ectoderm
d, Alimentary canal. cells projects.
r, Olfactory organ. The mouth, a longitudinal slit, opens on
te, Tentacle. to the ventral surface of the head. It leads t, Tactile hairs

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

- into a straight alimentary canal whose walls
ing from surface consist of a layer of ciliated cells ensheathed
of body. in a thin layer of peritoneal cells. There is
e, Ovary. no armature, and no glands, and the whole
el, Oviduct. tract can only be divided into an oesophagus
ho, Testes. and an intestine. The latter runs with no sg, Vas deferens. [fins. twists or coils straight to the anus, which is f2,f',Lateral and caudal situated at the junction of the trunk with
sb, Seminal pouch. the tail. A median mesentery running dorso-The eyes are indi- ventrally supports the alimentary canal and cated as black dots is continued behind it into the tail, thus behind the cerebral dividing the body cavity into two lateral
ganglia. halves.
There are no specialized circulatory, respiratory or excretory organs.
The nervous system consists of a cerebral ganglion in the head,a conspicuous ventral ganglion in the trunk, and of lateral cornmissures uniting these ganglia on each side. The whole of this system has retained its primitive connexion with the ectoderm. The cerebral ganglion also gives off a nerve on each side to a pair of small- ganglia, united by a median commissure, which have sunk into and

control

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

the muscles of the head. As in other animals there is a minute but extensive nervous plexus, which permeates the whole body and takes its origin from the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

ganglia. In addition to the eyes and the olfactory circle on the head scattered tactile papillae are found on the ectoderm.
Chaetognatha are hermaphrodite. The ovaries are attached to the side walls of the trunk region; between them and the body

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

lie the two oviducts whose inner and anterior end is described as closed, their outer ends opening one on each side of the anus, where the trunk joins the tail. According to Miss N. M. Stevens the so-called oviduct acts only as a " sperm-duct " or receptaculum seminis. The spermatozoa enter it and pass through its walls and traverse a minute duct formed of two accessory cells, and finally enter the ripe ovum. Temporary oviducts are formed between the " sperm-duet " and the germinal epithelium at each oviposition. A number of ova ripen simultaneously. The two testes lie in the tail and are formed by lateral proliferations of the living peritoneal cells. These break off and, lying in the coelomic fluid, break up into spermatozoa. They pass out through short vasa deferentia with internal ciliated funnels, sometimes an enlargement on their coursethe seminal vesiclesand a minute external pore situated on the side of the tail.
With hardly an exception the transparent eggs are laid into the sea and

float

FLOAT (in O. Eng. floc and flota, in the verbal form f eotan; the Teutonic root is flut-, another form of flu-, seen in " flow," cf. " fleet "; the root is seen in Gr. a-M e, to sail, Lat. pluere, to rain; the Lat, fluere and fluctus, wave, is not connect

on its surface. The development is direct and there is no larval stage. The segmentation is complete; one side of the hollow blastosphere invaginates and forms a gastrula. The blastopore closes, a new mouth and a new anus subsequently arising. The archenteron gives off two lateral pounchs and thus becomes trilobed. The middle lobe forms the alimentary canal; it closes behind and opens to the exterior anteriorly and so makes the mouth. The two lateral lobes contain the coelom; each separates off in front a segment which forms the head and presumably then divides again to form anteriorly the trunk, and posteriorly the tail regions. An interesting feature of the development of Chaetognaths is that, as in some insects, the cells destined to form the reproductive organs are differentiated at a very early period, being apparent even in the gastrula stage.
The great bulk of the group is pelagic, as the transparent nature of all their tissues indicates. They move by flexing their bodies. Spadella cephaloptera is, however, littoral and oviposits on sea-weed, and the " Valdivia " brought home a deep-sea species.
The three genera are differentiated as follows:
Sagitta M. Slabber, with two pairs of lateral fins. This genus was named as long ago as 1775.
Krohnia P. Langerhans, with one lateral fin on each side, extending on to the tail.
Spadella P. Langerhans, with a pair of lateral fins on the tail and a thickened ectodermic

ridge

running back on each side from the head to the anterior end of the fin.
The group is an isolated one and should probably be regarded as a separate phylum. It has certain histological resemblances with the Nematoda and certain primitive Annelids, but little stress must be laid on these. The most that can be said is that the Chaetognaths begin life with three segments, a feature they share with such widely-differing groups as the Brachiopoda, the Echinoderma and the Enteropneusta, and probably Vertebrata generally.
See O. Hertwig, Die Chaetognathen, eine Monographie (Jena, 188o) ; B. J. Grassi, Chetognathi: Flora u. Fauna d. Golfes von Neapel (1883) ; S. Strodtman, Arch. Naturg. lviii., 1892; N. M. Stevens, Zool. Jahrb. Anat. xviii., 1903, and xxi., 1905. (A. E. S.)

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