5 page paper

Running Head: ESCAE BY INKING

1

ESCAPE BY INKING 3

ESCAPE BY INKING

Abstract

Ink production by marine molluscs like the sea hares, cuttlefish, squid and others such as octopus is such a wonderful behaviour that is ideal for neurobiological explorations. Thinking is seen as an active defensive mechanism against predators. Evidence from the experiments indicates that the organisms from water have several strategies of deterring their predators apart from secreting mucus. Some of the marine animals have protective skin; the skin also produces mucus that is protective in its form. Other marine organisms such as snail protect themselves by covering their body with shell. This research shows that the organism has more than three strategies of deterring the predators depending on the nature of the predators.

Introduction

Inking is the most effective method that is used by marine organisms for defending themselves against marine predators. Identification of bioactive compounds from defended organisms is often a research focus. For instance, inking by marine molluscs like the hares, cuttlefish, squid, and octopuses is a unique method that is ideal for neuro-ecological explorations. Inking is seen as a general method mainly used in active defensive mechanisms against the predators found underneath the water. The main question that is disturbing is whether inking is a chemical mechanism where these marine organisms predict the presence of the predators by use of the chemicals secreted from their bodies or whether they use their visual mechanisms to see the predators and hide or emit the chemicals that keep the predators away. The secretion of ink, for instance, by share, which is known by the scientific method as aplysia californica, which is a large snail leaving in water, provides this organism with the defensive mechanism against marine predators such as the sea anemones. The organism may do so for crabs and lobsters. Marine organisms as the sea hare get their ink pigments and many other defensive chemicals entirely from red seaweed. The organisms are set to find an appropriate source of food that replenishes their chemical arsenal. (Patterson-Kane, 2018)

Methods

Laboratory-cultured Aplysia californica Cooper 2015 and A brasiliana Rang 2011 were raised from the stages of their eggs at the national resource of the Miami University laboratory. The animals were put on a diet of the red seaweed Gracilaria tikvahiae that was grown at the Aplysia resource facility. The Ulva lactuva from the neighboring Harbor branch facility in the U.S.A.

Depending on the environment of the predators, Aplysia spp. Have to be conservative in the deployment of their valuable chemical resources and are expected only to use the amount of ink that is enough in deterring the present predator as this is a very rare and precious chemical that is not easy to find in sea organisms. In the simulated tide pool that is encountered between the Aplysia californica and anemones (Jiang, 2019), it was observed that the aplysia californica organism produces varying amounts of ink basing on the kind of its interaction with the predators (Sugiura, 2018)

Results

Extracts many of its defensive chemicals out of its red seaweed diet, which includes its purple ink that is an effective deterrent against its predators like the anemones and crabs. As it is known, the inking behaviour is a very high threshold because all of the acts that are non-fixed that are nearly completely deplete the sea hare out of its supply of ink. If a seahare gets depleted of its gland of ink, it must seek a source of red seaweed to feed on for at least two days to replenish its ink supply. Because of this, therefore, this animal cannot be able to deploy its ink more than once in rapid succession as it responds to successive attacks from one or more of the predators.

It is, however, noted that Anaysia spp could secret ink in response to three other successive stimulations, which are done with the help of: first, the anemone tentacles; two, the mechanical stimulus that consists of grabbing and lifting the animal from the substratum, the third simulation is the electric shock. According to the Spectro-photometric measure of ink secretion, only almost 48 per cent of the gland’s releasable ink reservedly are deployed initially.

It is also noted that the moment the threshold is arrived at, marine organisms tend to secret almost all of their ink that is approximately 86 per cent of their total ink store within a single episode. It is concluded that ink has either two or none characteristics, the behaviour of ink is triggered by all or none fashion, and also the researchers noted that the amount of ink that is produced the moment the threshold is reached is either all or none, for instance, the animal produces almost all of its content of the ink gland. In case that the gland of the animal contains more than enough of the ink required in deterring the predator, secreting the entire of its ink will therefore be seen as a big waste of its important resource as this can be used to deter other predators in the future if it is preserved and used sparingly.

Chemical defenses of Molluscs

Molluscs form a large range of marine organisms, including the snails, cephalopods, and bivalves. Many of the molluscs are eaten not only by human beings but also by other species from diverse taxa, including fish, crustaceans, sea stars, and sea anemones. For their part of the evolutionary arms race, molluscs are used to the impressive array of having their defensive methods. This is to enable the molluscs to defend themselves from being eaten by their predator. These organisms excrete the chemicals that enable them to keep the predators away. Some of the molluscs have shells that serve as protective mechanisms as they can hide in the shell when the predators are approaching to ensure that they are not harmed. However, many molluscs, such as the opisthobranch gastropods, do not have the shells for protection. Therefore they are only left with the chemicals that they emit to preventive themselves from predators.

Chemical defenses of gastropods.

Gastropods are marine organisms that contain their chemical defences in the mucus. When they pass, they leave behind the mucus having the chemicals that help keep their predators away from reaching them. Their skin and their digestive glands also serve as the defensive mechanism as the two also excrete chemicals used in keeping their predators away. For instance, the skin and the mucus deter the predators as they try attacking because they are made of distasteful and deterrent compounds. The compounds deter the predators as they are extremely poisonous to the predators, and the smell helps keep the predators away. The mucus of these organisms also contains mechanical protective effects. They are capable of carrying the chemical cues, hence enhancing the persistence of the chemicals and reducing their dispersal in water.

Skin glands capable of secreting acids like sulphuric acid to repel the predators are known to be present in a lot of marine gastropods (Castellano, 2017). Secretion of acids is likely to have direct deterrent effects on predators, most likely, a part of a positive feedback loop that helps reinforce the aversive behaviours of the snails themselves or can also enhance other chemical defences. (Castellano, 2017)

Static chemical defenses are not only limited to mucus and skin. Many gastropods have deterrent compounds in their egg masses and the capsule that helps in the preventive mechanisms from being ingested by other animals. (Hamrouni-Buonomo, 2017) these compounds may as well be having an antimicrobial function. For instance, l-amino acid oxidase is found in the albumen gland and egg mass, and they have antimicrobial activity. Apart from this chemical defense, sea hares also have active chemical defensive behaviour of producing ink whenever a predator attacks them. Inking, however, is the main focus of this review. Ink is made of two glandular secretions released simultaneously into the mantle cavity and later expelled through a siphon towards the site of the predators coming to attack it. Most of the species have glands producing purple ink. The purple colour of the secretion comes from the pigments found in the sea hare diet made of red algae. Without the presence of this diet, purple color cannot be produced.

The second secretion comes from the opaline gland, this is a fluid that is almost clear to whitish, and it polymerizes as it becomes highly viscous when it comes in contact with water. However, the production of the opaline gland does not depend on the diet that the animal eats, and it appears to be made of Novo. Both of these glands are under separate neural control in different ganglia and can independently release their secretion or work together.

Discussion

For the evaluation, the biochemical response of cuttle fish to ink release it started with two aspects. First, the characteristics of ink-solution determined the relationship between ink frequency and weight. Second, the behavioral and physiological effects of continuous inking on cuttlefish. Predation is risk for most of animals. For their survival preys have developed defense against aggressive predators. Including physical armor, behavioral displays, and toxic chemicals. In most of animals body patterns play an important role in predator pray interactions. Study has found the behavioral changes in the cuttle fish while encountering predators. It displayed the changes in behaviour and fled without inking or jetting.  After increasing the threat proximity, cuttlefish showed a warning or threat to the predator and escapes were accompanied by ink release when an attack was imminent. Ink release not only requires substantial energy but also requires oxygen. Cuttle fish can continuously release ink from ink sac, re-releasing during recovery causes exhaustion death. Cuttle fish adapted this change and took as long as 30 days to recover. At early ages of development, the active defenses are not very efficient, hence the animal relies on passive defenses. It can deter some predators like crabs. For this reason, sea hares face huge predation because they have passive chemical defense where eaten more often than those with chemical defense.

Animals uses different levels of defenses. Those who produce under different degrees of risk and different degrees of cost. Passive chemical defense like those produces on skin and mucus in the absence of predatory attacks. They have different benefit than active chemical defense such as ink, which is released only after the predator attack. Another is the diversity chemical defense is ecological.

Future studies suggest the direction might be to determine the ubiquity of phagomimicry and sensory disruption as mechanism of chemical defense. Field studies of defensive functions of inking behaviour are needed. One technique is testing animals that have been experimentally manipulated to alter their ink content. It can be two types, one to deplete their ink or second is to deprive animals of specific compounds by diet manipulation or double stranded RNA inhibition. It has worked for gastropods. For sea hares selective production of chemicals, feeding and selective release of ink or opaline. Import area of research could be the consequences of defenses, avoidance, and alarm signals for operating the population of ecological levels.

References

Castellano, F., & Molinier-Frenkel, V. (2017). An overview of l-amino acid oxidase functions from bacteria to mammals: focus on the immunoregulatory phenylalanine oxidase IL4I1. Molecules, 22(12), 2151.

Charles D. Derby Escape by Inking and Secreting: Marine Molluscs Avoid Predators Through a Rich Array of Chemicals and Mechanisms. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.2307/25066645

Hamrouni-Buonomo, S., & Romdhane, M. S. (2017). Study on the presence of chemical defence against predators in the early stages of the Opisthobranch Aplysia depilates.

.Jiang, M., Zhao, C., Yan, R., Li, J., Song, W., Peng, R., ... & Jiang, X. (2019). Continuous inking affects the biological and biochemical responses of cuttlefish Sepia pharaonic. Frontiers in physiology, 10, 1429.

Patterson-Kane, E. (2018). Escape Response

Sugiura, S. (2018). Anti-predator defences of a bombardier beetle: is bombing essential for successful escape from frogs?. PeerJ, 6, e5942.