Abstract

The external surface microornament of the glass scallops Catillopecten natalyae and malyutinae is made by calcitic spiny projections consisting of a stem that later divides into three equally spaced and inclined branches (here called aerials). C. natalyae contains larger and smaller aerials, whereas C. malyutinae only secreted aerials of the second type. A remarkable feature is that aerials within each type are fairly similar in size and shape and highly co-oriented, thus constituting a most sophisticated microornament. We demonstrate that aerials are single crystals whose morphology is strongly controlled by the crystallography, with the stem being parallel to the c-axis of calcite, and the branches extending along the edges of the {104} calcite rhombohedron. They grow epitaxially onto the foliated prisms of the outer shell layer. The co-orientation of the prisms explains that of the aerials. We have developed a model in which every aerial grows within a periostracal pouch. When this pouch reaches the growth margin, the mantle initiates the production of the aerial. Nevertheless, later growth of the aerial is remote, i.e. far from the contact with the mantle. We show how such an extremely sophisticated microornament has a morphology and co-orientation which are determined by crystal growth.

Details

Title
Crystallographic control of the fabrication of an extremely sophisticated shell surface microornament in the glass scallop Catillopecten
Author
Checa, Antonio G. 1 ; Salas, Carmen 2 ; Varela-Feria, Francisco M. 3 ; Rodríguez-Navarro, Alejandro B. 4 ; Grenier, Christian 5 ; Kamenev, Gennady M. 6 ; Harper, Elizabeth M. 7 

 University of Granada, Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Granada, Spain (GRID:grid.4489.1) (ISNI:0000000121678994); Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de La Tierra, CSIC-University of Granada, Armilla, Spain (GRID:grid.466807.b) 
 University of Málaga, Department of Animal Biology, Málaga, Spain (GRID:grid.10215.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2298 7828) 
 University of Sevilla, Centro de Investigación, Tecnología e Innovación, Sevilla, Spain (GRID:grid.9224.d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2168 1229) 
 University of Granada, Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Granada, Spain (GRID:grid.4489.1) (ISNI:0000000121678994) 
 University of Granada, Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Granada, Spain (GRID:grid.4489.1) (ISNI:0000000121678994) 
 Russian Academy of Sciences, A.V. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Vladivostok, Russia (GRID:grid.417808.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 1393 1398) 
 University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, UK (GRID:grid.5335.0) (ISNI:0000000121885934) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2685831674
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.