Structure and Biomechanical Properties of Crustacean Blood Vessels

We investigated the mechanical properties of the antennary and sternal arteries of the crab Cancer magister and the dorsal abdominal artery of the lobster Homarus americanus by inflation of vessel segments in vitro. All vessels were highly distensible and resilient and had nonlinear elasticity. The crustacean arteries are mechanically similar to the aortas of other poikilothermic animals and should function as effective pulse-smoothing components in the crustacean circulation. These arteries contain lamellae ofa novel presumptive elastic tissue that is not amorphous like vertebrate elastin, but appears to be composed of 25-nm-diameter fibrils.