Wittmann & Ariani 1994
Wittmann & Ariani 1994
WITTMANN, K. J. & A.P. ARIANI, 1994: Dynamic Aspects of Fluorite and Vaterite Precipitation in the Static Organs of Marine Mysidacea (Crustacea). 29th European Marine Biology Symposium - Vienna 1994 (abstract): 2 pp.
A recent large scale crystallographic study on static bodies in the Mysidae has shown that 86% of species have fluorite (CaF2), 9% vaterite (CaCO3), and 5% non-crystalline statoliths. The aim of the present study is to estimate the efficiency of these systems to concentrate ions from seawater in order to precipitate fluorite and vaterite, respectively. Two congeneric species of Schistomysis are ideal study objects, because they represent different mineral types under similar ecophysiological conditions. ............
Although available data are scarce, we give a crude estimate on the rose of mysids in the fluorine cycle. The global mysid fauna has a minimum of 14 megatons dry weight (considering only species with fluorite statoliths). At least 62,000 tons of fluorine are bound in mysid statoliths. This is 3.4 x 10 - 8 the total amount (1.8 x 10 - 12 tons) of fluorine in the marine hydrosphere. An average mysid moults approximately every seven days and thereat sheds its both statoliths with the exuvia. This renewal contributes to a turnover of at most 570,000 years for overall fluorine; similar to the residence time of 450,000 years for fluorine in the sea. In this view an average fluorine ion passes once through a mysid statolith before being transferred to the atmosphere or to the sediments.
mineral statoliths; mineral composition; vaterite; fluorite; non-mineralic statoliths; importance in fluorine cycle
Mysidae; Schistomysis; Amblyops kempi; Schistomysis spiritus; Schistomysis assimilis