Summary
A modified, glandular epithelium lining the respiratory platelets of gills in crabs known to be absorbing salt is described. The cell surface adjacent to the surface cuticle is thrown into folds whose spaces are filled with flocculent material that is subject to pinocytosis. The lateral surface areas of neighboring cells are thrown into narrow, flat sheets that deeply interdigitate with one another on a one to one alternating basis. There is considerable spacing between the interdigitating plasma membranes that communicates with the haemolymph surface of the epithelium. Tremendously flattened mitochondria with modified cristae are seen. Both flattened mitochondria and more normally shaped mitochondria are seen to form mitochondrial pumps.
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Supported by grant-in-aid from the USPHS (General Medical Sciences Institute, GM-06836) and the National Science Foundation (GB-676).
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Copeland, D.E., Fitzjarrell, A.T. The salt absorbing cells in the gills of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus rathbun) with notes on modified mitochondria. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 92, 1–22 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00339398
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00339398