Cutaneous muscle tube

Schematic section through an annelid worm: 4 (epidermis with cuticle), 6 (circular muscles) and 7 (longitudinal muscles) mark the elements of the skin muscle tube

The skin muscle tube is part of the body support system known as the hydroskeleton of various worm-like invertebrates . In the skin muscle tube, the integument (“skin”) and at least one underlying muscle layer form a functional unit that exerts counter pressure on the aqueous fluid in the body cavity and thus stabilizes the body. The integument is directly connected to the muscles.

The muscles can either be limited to the longitudinal muscles ( roundworms ) or be composed of longitudinal and circular muscles ( annelid worms ). This difference in structure has a significant impact on the way the respective representatives move. In endoparasitic flatworms , the haumus muscle tube comprises a syncytial neodermis , which is highly relevant for the metabolism .

A skin muscle tube in the actual sense occurs, in addition to the nematode worms, annelid worms, and flatworms already mentioned by way of example, among other things in other groups of roundworms as well as in "primitive" molluscs ( worm mollusks ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cutaneous muscle tube. In: Compact Lexicon of Biology. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 2001, accessed on February 26, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Winfried Ahne, Horst Erich König, Hans-Georg Liebich, Manfred Stohrer, Eckard Wolf: Zoology - textbook for students of veterinary medicine and agricultural sciences. Schattauer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7945-1764-4 , p. 201