Northern European elephant tooth
| Northern European elephant tooth | ||||||||||||
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Housing of Antalis entalis |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Antalis entalis | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The North European elephant tusk ( Antalis entalis , synonym : Dentalium entale ) is a Kahnfüßerart from the family Dentaliidae . It is native to the North Sea on the coasts of Great Britain , Sweden and Norway .
features
The backwardly tapering, clearly curved shell of Antalis entalis is smooth and has no visible growth rings or ridges. The front housing mouth is circular, the rear oval with the obliquely cut rear end and with a notch on the convex side, closed by a calcareous septum with a central tube with a pear-shaped opening. In adults, the shell is up to 4 cm long and at the front end, the widest point, 5 mm wide. The surface of the bowl is glossy white.
The coat and foot are white. The broad, oval radula has only 5 teeth per row of teeth. The foot rises from the broad end of the bowl and has irregularly curved lobes. The edges of the jacket are joined to form an open tube.
Distribution and occurrence
Antalis entalis is found in the North Sea on the coasts of Great Britain , Sweden and Norway . It lives on sandy or muddy subsoil, for the most part, buried in the substrate below the tidal zone from a depth of several meters. Empty housing are often of the injection worm Phascolion strombus inhabited.
Life cycle
Antalis entalis is separate sex. External fertilization takes place, for which purpose both sexual partners release their gametes from the mantle cavity into the open water. The fertilized eggs develop into trochophora- like larvae, which live as zooplankton and only after a few weeks metamorphose into ground-dwelling angiosperms .
nutrition
Antalis entalis feeds on protozoa , especially foraminifera , which are taken up by the substrate and brought to the mouth with the help of the sticky captacula, long and thin tentacles.
Web links
- MJ de Kluijver, SS Ingalsuo & RH de Bruyne: Dentalium entalis Linné, 1758 . Mollusca of the North Sea.
- Fischhaus Zepkow: Family Dentaliidae - tusks
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sven Gehrmann: The fauna of the North Sea - lower animals & vertebrates. Epubli, 2011. p. 201.
- ^ Stanley Shostak: Embryology: an introduction to developmental biology. Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. p. 356.
- ^ JE Morton (1959): The habits and feeding organs of Dentalium entalis. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 38 (2), pp. 225-238.