Below the ectoderm of many animals, connective tissue forms sheets of varying complexity, existing as fine membranes or as complex superficial layers of fibres. Muscles inserted on the fibres form subepithelial complexes in many invertebrates; and vertebrate muscles are often inserted on firm sheets of connective tissue (fascia) deep in the body that are also formed by these fibres. Particular concentrations of collagen fibres, oriented in different directions, occur superficially in the soft-bodied Peripatus (a caterpillar-like terrestrial invertebrate). In coelenterates they also occur deep in the body. In many arthropods, collagen fibres form substantial endosternites (i.e., ridges on the inner surface of the exoskeleton in the region of the thorax) that are isolated from other skeletal structures. These fibres are not shed during molting, and the endosternites grow with the body. The fibres do not stretch, but their arrangement provides firm support for muscles and sometimes permits great changes in body shape.

The hydrostatic skeleton

The hydrostatic skeleton is made possible by closed fluid-filled internal spaces of the body. It is of great importance in a wide variety of animal groups because it permits the antagonistic action of muscles used in locomotion and other movements. The fluid spaces are part of the gastrovascular cavity in the Coelenterata, part of the coelomic cavity (between the gut and the body wall) in the worms, and hemocoelic (i.e., in a type of body cavity consisting of a complex of spaces between tissues and organs) or vascular in mollusks and arthropods. As the exoskeleton becomes more rigid and the apodemal endoskeleton more fully developed in arthropods, the importance of the hemocoele in promoting antagonistic muscle action decreases. In larger and more heavily sclerotized species, the hydrostatic skeleton is no longer of locomotory significance; the muscles work directly against the articulated skeleton, as in vertebrates.

Elastic structures

In the larger medusae, or jellyfishes (Coelenterata), the musculature is mainly circular. By contracting its bell-shaped body, the jellyfish narrows, ejecting water from under the bell; this pushes the animal in the opposite direction from that of the water. There are no antagonistic muscles to counteract the contracted circular muscles. A passive, slow return of the bell to its expanded shape is effected largely by the elasticity of the mesoglea layer, which crumples during the propulsive contraction. After the circular muscles relax, the distorted mesoglea fibres pull them out to expand the bell. In many of the larger mammals, elastic fibres are used more extensively. The elephant and the whale, for example, possess an abundance of elastic tissue in their musculature.

Elasticity of surface cuticle assists recovery movements in roundworms and arthropods, but the stresses and strains that cuticle can withstand are limited. Special sensory devices (chordotonal organs) convey the extent of stress in the cuticle to the animal’s nervous system, thus preventing the generation of stresses great enough to damage the structure. There are also elastic units in the base of the wings of some insects. These rather solid elastic structures alternately store and release energy. They have probably been important in the evolution of the extremely rapid wingbeat of some insects.

Buoyancy devices

Buoyancy devices are complex structures that involve both hard and soft parts of the animal. In vertebrates they may be closely associated with or form part of the auditory apparatus. A chain of auditory ossicles in mammals transmits vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the internal ear; simpler devices occur in the cold-blooded land vertebrates. In the roach fish, which has sensitive hearing, a chain of four Weberian ossicles connects the anterior, or forward, end of the swim bladder to the auditory organs of the head. Sound vibrations cause changes in volume in the anterior part of the bladder and are transmitted to the nervous system through the ossicles. The swim bladder of other fishes appears to be a buoyancy organ and not skeletal; however, cephalopods capable of swimming rapidly in both deep and shallow water possess air-filled buoyancy organs. The calcareous coiled shell of the bottom-dwelling Nautilus is heavy and chambered; the animal lives in the large chamber. The shell behind is coiled and composed of air-filled chambers that maintain the animal in an erect position. When the entire coiled, lightly constructed shell of Spirula sinks into the body, the animal has internal air spaces that can control its buoyancy and also its direction of swimming. In cuttlefish and squids, a shell that was originally chambered has become transformed into a laminated cuttlebone. Secretion and absorption of gases to and from the cuttlebone by the bloodstream provide a hydrostatic buoyancy mechanism that enables the squids to swim with little effort at various depths. This device has probably made it possible for some species to grow to a length of 18 metres (59 feet). Some siphonophores (Coelenterata) have a chambered gas-filled float, its walls stiffened with a chitinlike structure in Velella.

Britannica Quiz

Facts You Should Know: The Human Body Quiz

Skeletomusculature of a mobile coelenterate

A sea anemone provides an example of the way in which a hydrostatic skeleton can act as the means by which simple sheets of longitudinal and circular muscle fibres can antagonize each other to produce contrasting movements. The fluid-filled space is the large digestive, or internal, cavity of the body. If the mouth is slightly open when both longitudinal and circular muscles of the trunk contract, fluid flows out of the internal space, and the body shrinks. If the mouth is closed, the internal fluid-filled space cannot be compressed; thus, the body volume remains constant, and contraction of the longitudinal muscles of the trunk both shortens and widens the body. Contraction of the circular muscles pulls out relaxed longitudinal muscles, and the body lengthens. Appropriate coordination of muscular action working against the hydrostatic skeleton can produce locomotion movements—such as burrowing in sand or stepping along a hard surface—by billowing out one side of the base of the animal while the other side of the base contracts, forcing fluid into the relaxed, dilated portion. The forward dilated part sticks to the surface, and its muscles contract, pulling the animal forward.

The circular muscles lie outside a substantial layer of skeletal mesoglea fibrils; longitudinal muscles are internal to the layer. The muscle fibres are attached at either end to the mesoglea fibres, which, like vertebrate bones, cannot stretch. Unlike bones, however, the mesoglea sheet is able to change its shape, because its components (fibrils) are set in layers at an angle to each other and to the long axis of the body. Alteration in length and width of the body is accompanied by changes in the angle between two sheets of mesoglea fibrils; thus, support for the muscles can vary greatly in position. The range in change of shape of the sea anemone is implemented by simple muscles and connective-tissue mesoglea fibrils. The movements are characteristically slow, often occurring so slowly as to be invisible to the naked eye. Faster movements would engender greater increases in internal pressures, thus placing a needless burden on the musculature. All coelenterates utilize this slow hydrostatic-muscular system, but, as described for the jellyfish, some faster movements are also possible.