Fig 1.
Representation of the components of A. californicus buccal mass.
(A) A picture of a banana slug and (B) a schematic representation of the buccal mass; on the left the esophagus opening, on the right the mouth opening. In the scheme we reported the three structures (C) the jaw, shown in the scheme as the brown region while the cuticle is shown in yellow; (D) the radula; (E) the odontophore, dissected out of the surrounding tissues.
Fig 2.
Picture of a jaw in water from the (A) frontal and (B) lateral point of view. (C and D) Optic images of a section of jaw at two different magnifications. Fluorescence microscopy images in (E) bright field and (F) dark field of a section of jaw stained with CW.
Fig 3.
(A) SEM images of a jaw treated in NaOH 1M; red lines highlight the parallel grooves observed in the foregut cuticle. (B) The nano-particles at a higher magnification, (C) a crack of the structure where the perpendicular nanofibers and few particles can be observed, and (D) the nanofibrous carpet.
Fig 4.
Description of central and lateral denticles.
(A and E) Optical microscope images of central, and lateral denticles. SEM images of (B) central denticles, (F) lateral denticles, (C) a single central denticle still showing some fibrils on the base, and (G) a clean single lateral denticle. Schematic representation of the (D) central, and (H) lateral denticles’ packing. Red arrows indicate the rachidian tooth where visible.
Fig 5.
(A) Optical and (B) fluorescence microscope images of a radula longitudinal section. SEM images of (C and D) the radula membrane and of (E and F) a radula membrane section.
Fig 6.
SEM images of immature (A) central and (B) lateral denticles. (C) SEM image of a broken mature etched denticle and of (D) a broken mature denticle.
Fig 7.
Optical and fluorescence images sections of the odontophore: (A and D) transverse section, (B and E) anterior region in the transverse section, (C and F) posterior region in the transverse section; (G and J) sagittal section, (H and K) dorsal sagittal region and (I and L) ventral sagittal region; (M and P) coronal section, (N and Q) dorsal coronal region and (O and R) ventral coronal region.
Fig 8.
SEM image of a fixed section of the odontophore: (A) ventral coronal section, (B) a fiber perpendicular to the plane of section, (C and D) connecting matrix between the fibers, (E) frontal view of the fiber section and (F) lateral view of the micrometric fiber.
Fig 9.
Schematic representation of the odontophore sections: (A) transverse section, (B) coronal section, and (C) sagittal section. Schematic representation of the elastic behavior on different position of the odontophore, the forces inducing the deformation are reported as arrows: (D) transversal posterior region, (E) ventral sagittal region, and (F) dorsal sagittal region.