|
|
 Up |
|
|
  |
Author: LorentzLorentz Date: Aug 24, 2007 14:08
How does the poison of a pufferfish protect the pufferfish or
its closest kin? Why is the poison concentrated in the liver and
ovaries?
The poison of a pufferfish concentrates in its liver and its
ovaries. However, if the predator gets that far then the pufferfish is
clearly dead. Whether the animal dies, or gets sick, is of no
relevance to the individual. Why is the poison concentrated in these
organs?
One possibility that I was thinking is that the poison may be
distributed throughout the body, but the bacteria that make the poison
happens to like the environment of these organs. So ,the regions of
greatest concentration are not in themselves adaptive from the
pufferfish point of view. Just the bacteria. Or maybe the liver just
happens to collect the toxin for disposal, like it does many toxins.
|
| |
|
| | 5 Comments |
|
|
Author: Alan MeyerAlan Meyer Date: Aug 25, 2007 10:10
> How does the poison of a pufferfish protect the pufferfish or
> its closest kin? Why is the poison concentrated in the liver and
> ovaries?
>
> The poison of a pufferfish concentrates in its liver and its
> ovaries. However, if the predator gets that far then the pufferfish is
> clearly dead. Whether the animal dies, or gets sick, is of no
> relevance to the individual. Why is the poison concentrated in these
> organs?
>
> One possibility that I was thinking is that the poison may be
> distributed throughout the body, but the bacteria that make the poison
> happens to like the environment of these organs. So ,the regions of
> greatest concentration are not in themselves adaptive from...
|
| Show full article (1.86Kb) |
|
| | no comments |
|
|
Author: LorentzLorentz Date: Aug 26, 2007 22:41
On Aug 25, 1:10 pm, "Alan Meyer" yahoo.com> wrote:>> How does the poison of a pufferfish protect the pufferfish or > > its closest kin? >
> We often look at the current products of an evolutionary path
> and wonder how in the world could this have evolved. But often
> the actual path is not straightforward and involved side trips that
> are not obvious to us now but which account for the surprising
> changes.
>
> Alan
I did a more reading. I have read some conjectures that being
poisonous may act in synergy with social behavior. Social behavior can
make kin selection much more pronounced. Being poisonous in a passive...
|
| Show full article (3.45Kb) |
| no comments |
|
|
Author: MujinMujin Date: Nov 6, 2007 12:30
> How does the poison of a pufferfish protect the pufferfish or
> its closest kin? Why is the poison concentrated in the liver and
> ovaries?
>
> The poison of a pufferfish concentrates in its liver and its
> ovaries. However, if the predator gets that far then the pufferfish is
> clearly dead. Whether the animal dies, or gets sick, is of no
> relevance to the individual. Why is the poison concentrated in these
> organs?
While the liver and ovaries have famously high concentrations of
tetratotoxin in puffer fish species, the toxin is also found in eggs and
the skin. With the skin in mind, see:
Kodama, M., Sato, S., Ogata, T., Suzuki, Y., Kaneko, T., Aida, K.,1986.
Tetrodotoxin secreting glands in the skin of puffer fishes.Toxicon 24(8),
819-829
( http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0041-0101(86)90107-8)
Abstract:
"Unique exocrine glands or gland-like structures were found in the skin of
several species of puffer fishes of the genus Takifugu. The glands of T.
pardalis and T. vermiculare porphyreum consisted...
|
| Show full article (4.42Kb) |
| no comments |
|
|
Author: LorentzLorentz Date: Nov 8, 2007 10:27
On Nov 6, 3:30 pm, Mujin wrote:
>> How does the poison of a pufferfish protect the pufferfish or
>> its closest kin? Why is the poison concentrated in the liver and
>> ovaries?
>
>> The poison of a pufferfish concentrates in its liver and its
>> ovaries. However, if the predator gets that far then the pufferfish is
>> clearly dead. Whether the animal dies, or gets sick, is of no
>> relevance to the individual. Why is the poison concentrated in these
>> organs?
>
> While the liver and ovaries have famously high concentrations of
> tetratotoxin in puffer fish species, the toxin is also found in eggs and
> the skin. With the skin in mind, see:
>
> Kodama, M., Sato, S., Ogata, T., Suzuki, Y., Kaneko, T., Aida, K.,1986.
> Tetrodotoxin secreting glands in the skin of puffer fishes.Toxicon 24(8),
> 819-829 ...
|
| Show full article (5.03Kb) |
| no comments |
|
|
|
|
|
Author: MujinMujin Date: Nov 9, 2007 14:24
> On Nov 6, 3:30 pm, Mujin wrote:
>> Lorentz yahoo.com> wrote
[snip]
>> One thing that has interested me lately is the fact that TTX is
>> highly concentrated in the ovaries, but not in the testes.
>> Apparently the idea that TTX levels are higher during the fugu
>> spawning...
|
| Show full article (3.48Kb) |
| no comments |
|
RELATED THREADS |
|
|
|
|
