| Popis: |
Cephalopods are marine predators with most species actively hunting for their preys, while other are scavengers. Understanding the physiological adaptations of these fascinating and complex molluscs poses important challenges for several disciplines. Very little research has been done on the digestive tract of cephalopod molluscs during the last 30 years, in contrast to many other areas of cephalopod biology. Understanding its normal functioning has wide ranging implications for fisheries, aquaculture, and for the care and welfare of cephalopods in the laboratory and in public displays. Most of the available knowledge on the cephalopod “gut” and physiology of digestion is based on assumptions by analogy with the vertebrate digestive system. Nevertheless, the normal functioning of the digestive tract relates to important physiological aspects such as appetitive drive, signaling satiety, storage and coordinated oro-anal movement of ingested food and digesta, extra- and intra-cellular digestion, epithelial and intra-cellular transport, metabolism and incorporation of nutrients in the tissues. Each of these phenomena is essential for normal development and growth as well as for the maintenance of health and wellbeing. Alterations in digestive tract functionality are also a sensitive indicator of gastrointestinal and systemic infections, disease and external stressors in the broadest sense. Recent renewed interest in these animals is due to the challenges posed by the Directive 2010/63/EU that includes all 700 species (at all life stages) as the sole representatives among invertebrates in the list of species whose use in scientific research is regulated. |
