Research on the adhesive organ of Idiosepius thailandicus

Adhesive substances with a variety of functions are wildely known within marine animals. Some adhesive substances are used for attachment temporarily or permanently on the subsoil while other animals develop sticky traps for food gathering or secrete glue from their extremities to capture prey. Two sepiolid genera of cephalopods (Euprymna sp. and Idiosepius sp.) produce glue by means of an adhesive gland. However, the adhesive substances of these two squid taxa serve different purposes and have been explained as ecological and behavioral adaptations. Euprymna secrete glue to coat themselves totally with sand while Idiosepius use glue to stick to sea grass leaves or algae for camouflage against predators. Hiding there, they also wait for prey swimmng by. While the ultrastructure of the adhesive gland in Euprymna is well characterized, not much attention has been paid to the adhesive organ in Idiosepius. Even less is known of the function of the adhesive gland and the biochemical composition of the glue. The main objective of this proposed work is an ultrastructural characterization of the adhesive organ and the histochemical and biochemical identification of the glue compounds Idiosepius thailandicus. The biochemical data will be useful for future industrial or medical applications. In addition the biochemical data of the glue compounds of Idiosepiidae will allow comparisons with those of the related species Euprymna.

Adhesive substances with a variety of functions are wildely known within marine animals. Some adhesive substances are used for attachment temporarily or permanently on the subsoil while other animals develop sticky traps for food gathering or secrete glue from their extremities to capture prey. Two sepiolid genera of cephalopods (Euprymna sp. and Idiosepius sp.) produce glue by means of an adhesive gland. However, the adhesive substances of these two squid taxa serve different purposes and have been explained as ecological and behavioral adaptations. Euprymna secrete glue to coat themselves totally with sand while Idiosepius use glue to stick to sea grass leaves or algae for camouflage against predators. Hiding there, they also wait for prey swimmng by. While the ultrastructure of the adhesive gland in Euprymna is well characterized, not much attention has been paid to the adhesive organ in Idiosepius. Even less is known of the function of the adhesive gland and the biochemical composition of the glue. The main objective of this proposed work is an ultrastructural characterization of the adhesive organ and the histochemical and biochemical identification of the glue compounds Idiosepius thailandicus. The biochemical data will be useful for future industrial or medical applications. In addition the biochemical data of the glue compounds of Idiosepiidae will allow comparisons with those of the related species Euprymna.