Mechanical Diversity of Connective Tissue of the Body Wall of Sea Anemones

Abstract

Techniques for analysing polymer mechanics were used to describe quantitatively the time-dependent mechanical properties of the body-wall connective tissue (mesogloea) and to indicate macromolecular mechanisms responsible for the mechanical behaviour of two species of sea anemones, Metridium senile and Anthopleura xanthogrammica. This study illustrates how structural features on the macromolecular and microscopic levels of organization of an organism can equip that organism for the particular mechanical activities it performs and the environmental forces it encounters.