テトラサイクリン標識によるエゾバフンウニ殻板生長線の観察

抄録

The present study was undertaken, with the aid of tetracycline labelling, to know whether pigmented-growth zones in the test plate of a sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus intermedius, can be regarded as real annual zones or not. The urchins were reared in aquaria for fourteen months from August, 1967 to October, 1968, giving tetracycline four times at appropriate time intervals through the peristomial membrane.
Pigmented-growth zones were clearly seen along the longitudinal suture of each of the test plates, while they were not clear along both the latitudinal areas of the suture and along the inner surface.
In each test of the sea urchins labelled with tetracycline four times, only two bands of the tetracycline fluorescence were observed along both the longitudinal suture and the inner surface. A pigmented-growth zone was clearly observed in each test plate between these two bands of tetracycline fluorescence caused by the injection on October, 1967 and March, 1968. The pigmented zone was concluded to be the winter ring in each test plate during the active growth period in winter.