THE CNIDOCYST DATABASE

prepared by Stanley Shostak Department of Biological Sciences University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA e-mail address: sshostak+@pitt.edu

Introduction. My object in preparing this database on cnidocysts was to preserve as much information from the systematic literature on Cnidaria as possible and make it available in as useful a format as feasible. The present version features data on the cnidome, or census of cnidocysts present in species, and on the length and width of cnidocyst capsules. In addition, notes on frequency and occasional references to capsular shape are appended. In future versions, these notes and references will be systematically organized, and additions to the database will expand coverage to other features of cnidocyst, their toxicological, biochemical, and molecular characteristics. The user is encouraged to send corrections, additions, and suggestions for future versions of the database to S. Shostak at the above address.

File server. The present file server has five main parts (1) Anthozoa cnidocysts, (2) Cubozoa nematocysts v.3, (3) Hydrozoa nematocysts, (4) Scyphozoa nematocysts v.3, containing data on the distribution of cnidocysts in each of the classes of Cnidaria, and (5) Anthozoa quantitative containing quantitative data on capsule length and width in different body regions and species of Anthozoa. (A sixth part with similar data on Hydrozoa will be added pending permission of the main author.). In consideration of their sizes, parts 1 and 3 have been divided into sections both alphabetically by species and taxonomically by groupings (identified by abbreviated titles). The remaining parts of the file contain ancillary material: 1) symbols (also abbreviations and definitions); citations referred to in the text.

In addition, quantitative data on anthozoan cnidocysts are found in Anthozoa quantitative files, and quantitative data on hydrozoan nematocysts are found in Ostm.# files (reproduced with permission of C. Oestman).