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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Excretory in invertebrate


Excretory systems regulate the chemical composition of body fluids by removing metabolic wastes and retaining the proper amounts of water, salts, and nutrients. Components of this system in vertebrates include the kidneys, liver, lungs, and skin.
Not all animals use the same routes or excrete their wastes the same way humans do. Excretion applies to metabolic waste products that cross a plasma membrane. Elimination is the removal of feces.
Water and Salt Balance

The excretory system is responsible for regulating water balance in various body fluids. Osmoregulation refers to the state aquatic animals are in: they are surrounded by freshwater and must constantly deal with the influx of water. Animals, such as crabs, have an internal salt concentration very similar to that of the surrounding ocean. Such animals are known asosmoconformers, as there is little water transport between the inside of the animal and the isotonic outside environment.
Marine vertebrates, however, have internal concentrations of salt that are about one-third of the surrounding seawater. They are said to be osmoregulators. Osmoregulators face two problems: prevention of water loss from the body and prevention of salts diffusing into the body. Fish deal with this by passing water out of their tissues through their gills by osmosisand salt through their gills by active transport. Cartilaginous fish have a greater salt concentration than seawater, causing water to move into the shark by osmosis; this water is used for excretion. Freshwater fish must prevent water gain and salt loss. They do not drink water, and have their skin covered by a thin mucus. Water enters and leaves through the gills and the fish excretory system produces large amounts of dilute urine.
Terrestrial animals use a variety of methods to reduce water loss: living in moist environments, developing impermeable body coverings, production of more concentrated urine. Water loss can be considerable: a person in a 100 degree F temperature loses 1 liter of water per hour.
Invertebrate Excretory Organs 

Many invertebrates such as flatworms use a nephridium as their excretory organ. At the end of each blind tubule of the nephridium is a ciliated flame cell. As fluid passes down the tubule, solutes are reabsorbed and returned to the body fluids.

Excretory system of a flatworm. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates  and WH Freeman , used with permission.

Excretory system of an earthworm. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates  and WH Freeman, used with permission.
Body fluids are drawn into the Malphigian tubules by osmosis due to large concentrations of potassium inside the tubule. Body fluids pass back into the body, nitrogenous wastes empty into the insect's gut. Water is reabsorbed and waste is expelled from the insect.



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