Tuesday, 09 May, 2006
Nanosecond-scale kinetics of nematocyst discharge
Timm Nüchter, Martin Benoit, Ulrike Engel, Suat Özbek and Thomas W. Holstein -
Current Biology 16, R316 (2006)
The rapid discharge of stinging cells (nematocytes) in jellyfish, hydra, and other cnidarians is one of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom. After the triggering of exocytosis, a miniature cellular weapon, the nematocyst, is released and stylets punch a hole into the preys integument.
This step is so fast that conventional high-speed micro-cinematography fails to resolve its kinetics.