ANTONIO G. CHECA

The Dynamics of Nacre Self Assembly (2008)

Julyan H. E. Cartwright, Antonio G. Checa, Laboratorio De Estudios Cristalográficos

We show how nacre and pearl construction in bivalve and gastropod molluscs can be understood in terms of successive processes of controlled self assembly from the molecular- to the macro-scale. This...

Abnormalities as natural experiments: a morphogenetic model for coiling regulation in planispiral ammonites (2002)

Antonio G. Checa, Takashi Okamoto, Helmut Keupp

Exceptional examples of planispiral ammonites that were infested by epizoans during life display alterations of their normal coiling. Most commonly, the epizoan(s) settled on the venter of the...

REMOTE BIOMINERALIZATION IN DIVARICATE RIBS OF STRIGILLA AND SOLECURTUS (TELLINOIDEA: BIVALVIA) (2000)

CHECA, ANTONIO G.

Deposits composed of aragonite prisms, which were formed after the outer shell layer, have been found at the posterior steep slopes of divaricate ribs in two species of Strigilla and another two of...

HYDRAULIC BURROWING IN THE BIVALVE MYA ARENARIA LINNAEUS (MYOIDEA) AND ASSOCIATED LIGAMENTAL ADAPTATIONS (1997)

CHECA, ANTONIO G., CADÉE, GERHARD C.

The burrowing behaviour of the bivalve Mya arenaria from tidal flats of the Dutch Wadden Sea has been observed and recorded. Compared to other bivalves, M. arenaria is a very slow burrower, its...

Organization pattern of nacre in Pteriidae (Bivalvia: Mollusca) explained by crystal competition

Checa, Antonio G, Okamoto, Takashi, Ramírez, Joaquín

Bivalve nacre is a brick-wall-patterned biocomposite of aragonite platelets surrounded by organic matter. SEM–electron back scatter diffraction analysis of nacre of the bivalve family Pteriidae...

The dynamics of nacre self-assembly

Cartwright, Julyan H.E, Checa, Antonio G

We show how nacre and pearl construction in bivalve and gastropod molluscs can be understood in terms of successive processes of controlled self-assembly from the molecular- to the macro-scale. This...

The key role of the surface membrane in why gastropod nacre grows in towers

Checa, Antonio G., Cartwright, Julyan H. E., Willinger, Marc-Georg

The nacre of gastropod molluscs is intriguingly stacked in towers. It is covered by a surface membrane, which protects the growing nacre surface from damage when the animal withdraws into its shell....

Spiral and target patterns in bivalve nacre manifest a natural excitable medium from layer growth of a biological liquid crystal

Cartwright, Julyan H. E., Checa, Antonio G., Escribano, Bruno, Sainz-Díaz, C. Ignacio

Nacre is an exquisitely structured biocomposite of the calcium carbonate mineral aragonite with small amounts of proteins and the polysaccharide chitin. For many years, it has been the subject of...