ABSTRACT

The toxins present in poisonous and venomous animals have both offensive and defensive functions. The blue-lined octopus Hapalochlaena fasciata has tetrodotoxin (TTX) in various organs, including the salivary glands, muscles and skin, and TTX is assumed to be used in both offence and defence. In this study, we explore the evolution of toxicity in H. fasciata by measuring the levels and distribution of TTX in H. fasciata specimens collected in Japan and by investigating the TTX allocation within the body. TTX was detected in all 13 adults and 3 paralarvae studied. The concentration of TTX was highest in the anterior and posterior salivary glands, and the total amount of TTX was highest in the muscles and skin. Larger individuals had significantly higher amounts of TTX, but the TTX concentrations in the muscles and skin were not correlated with body weight. There were large individual differences in TTX concentration and some individuals showed extremely low TTX levels. These individual differences may be related to regional, seasonal and sexual differences, although the origin of TTX in this species is still unclear. Furthermore, we found a strong positive correlation between TTX concentrations in the posterior salivary gland and TTX concentrations in muscles and skin, with the former being c. 20 times greater than the latter. This suggests that the allocation ratio may not result from a plastic allocation, reflecting the TTX needs of each organ or the amount of available TTX, but rather may, at least partly, be evolutionarily fixed.

中文翻译：

---

日本蓝线章鱼Hapalochlaena fasciata中河豚毒素的水平和分布，特别涉及体内分配

摘要

存在于有毒和有毒动物中的毒素同时具有攻击和防御功能。蓝线章鱼Hapalochlaena fasciata在包括唾液腺，肌肉和皮肤在内的各种器官中都具有河豚毒素（TTX），并且假定TTX可用于进攻和防守。在这项研究中，我们将探讨在毒性进化H. fasciata通过测量TTX的水平和分布H. fasciata在日本收集的标本，并通过调查体内的TTX分配。在研究的所有13位成人和3位幼虫中均检测到TTX。TTX的浓度在唾液的前后唾液腺中最高，而TTX的总量在肌肉和皮肤中最高。较大的个体具有显着更高的TTX量，但肌肉和皮肤中的TTX浓度与体重无关。TTX浓度存在很大的个体差异，有些个体显示出极低的TTX水平。这些个体差异可能与区域，季节和性别差异有关，尽管该物种中TTX的起源仍不清楚。此外，C。比后者大20倍。这表明分配比例可能不是由塑料分配产生的，反映了每个器官的TTX需求或可用TTX的数量，而是至少部分地在进化上是固定的。