平衡石の成長

概要

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About the static organ and statolith of various animals, the existence and its place, the morphology, the crystal structure and the function to the static mechanism were reviewed. In our experiment, in situ observation of the statolith of goldfish was made through living body by the optical microscope. The shape is round in the period of vivipar and fry. As the fish grows, the shape changed irregular one similar to the receptor. The statolith is the polycrystal of CaCO_3 and its structure was mainly aragonite type. The growth rate is the order of 0.1 Å/s, and decreases as the statolith grows. The degree of supersaturation of lymph was estimated to be 12.9. In spite of the very high supersaturation, the growth rate is very small, owing to the small equillibrium concentration and the inhibition for growth. Probably, the heterogeneous nucleation must occur frequently at random orientation on many tangled fibers. From this, the surface of statolith becomes rough and isotropic for the surface energy, and the shape will be round when the size is small.
日本結晶成長学会の論文
1985-04-05