Issue 7, 2002
From the journal:

Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions

Calcium sulfate hemihydrate in statoliths of deep-sea medusae

Henry Tiemann,*a   Ilka Sötje,a   Gerhard Jarms,a   Carsten Paulmann,b   Matthias Epple*c  and  Bernd Hassebc  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Zoology, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany

b HASYLAB at DESY, Notkestr. 85, D-22607 Hamburg, Germany

c Solid State Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
E-mail: matthias.epple@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Abstract

We report on the examination of the statoliths of the coronate medusa Periphylla periphylla. The statoliths are single crystals of calcium sulfate hemihydrate of about 60 μm length and 15 μm diameter, as identified by powder and single-crystal diffractometry at the synchrotron. This is most surprising, as this phase (gypsum plaster, the mineral bassanite) can not usually be precipitated from aqueous solutions and easily takes up water to yield the dihydrate of calcium sulfate (hardening reaction of gypsum). As it is sensible to use the considerably more dense hemihydrate instead of the dihydrate as a gravity sensor (32% higher density after buoyancy correction), it can be concluded that this biological system actively induces the crystallisation of this phase far away from chemical equilibrium. As a biomineral, calcium sulfate hemihydrate has not been found in living organisms before. The results are complemented by a discussion of histology and evolutionary aspects.

Graphical abstract: Calcium sulfate hemihydrate in statoliths of deep-sea medusae

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B111524C
Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Dec 2001
Accepted
18 Feb 2002
First published
11 Mar 2002

J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans., 2002, 1266-1268

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Calcium sulfate hemihydrate in statoliths of deep-sea medusae

H. Tiemann, I. Sötje, G. Jarms, C. Paulmann, M. Epple and B. Hasse, J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans., 2002, 1266 DOI: 10.1039/B111524C

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