JOHNSON, Z. C.*; SZULGIT, G. K.; Hiram College; Hiram College: Testing for the presence of mutable collagenous tissue in the digestive tract of the sea cucumber, Parastichopus parvimensis.

We examined the digestive tract of the holothurian (sea cucumber) Parastichopus parvimensis to determine whether or not it could be considered to be a mutable collagenous tissue (MCT). MCTs are collagenous connective tissues that have the ability to change stiffness within seconds of stimulation. MCTs are found exclusively in echinoderms, but their extent throughout the body of any given echinoderm is not precisely known. The presence of any tissue that might be considered non-mutable in an echinoderm would have implications for the understanding of how this characteristic might develop. For this reason, we feel that it is important to ‘map’ the locations of MCTs thoroughly in at least one species. We have begun this process by performing mechanical tests on the digestive tract of a holothurian that is already known to have MCT in its body wall. We measured stress relaxation constants of the tissue under different conditions as a first step toward determining whether or not the tissue is mutable.