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Zinc Concentrations of Fast and Slow Contracting Muscles in the Lobster

Nature volume 213, pages 1043–1044 (1967)Cite this article

Abstract

DURING an investigation of the regulation of zinc in the lobster Homarus vulgaris it was found that different skeletal muscles may contain very different amounts of zinc. The main flexor muscle from the abdomen contains 14.4 µg/g, but pooled samples of the extensor and flexor muscles of the coxopodite segments of the walking legs contain 60 µg/g1. Analyses of muscle samples in other decapod crustaceans have suggested that a low concentration of zinc is characteristic of muscles which can contract quickly. To confirm this I compared muscles with certain structural differences which suggest that their modes of functioning are different.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth

    G. W. BRYAN

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  1. G. W. BRYAN
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BRYAN, G. Zinc Concentrations of Fast and Slow Contracting Muscles in the Lobster. Nature 213, 1043–1044 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2131043a0

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