Injury, recovery and function in an aganglionic central nervous system.

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Abstract
Effects in behavior of sectioning the circumoral nerve ring were studied in 2 spp. of starfish Lepidasterias aequalis and large and small specimens of Patiria miniata. In Leptasterias aequalis the ring was sectioned in 2 places opposite each other. The result was that the individual pulled himself apart due to incoordinated locomotion. Section of the nerve in 1 or 2 places in Patiria miniata causes incoordination in righting movements which may last up to about 5 mos. depending on the size of the specimen. In a study of the occasionally-occurring 7-rayed individual (Patiria) coordination took place only in 4 rays at any one time which was explained as due to a decremental conduction in the nervous system, the impulses reaching only the adjacent rays. Individuality as such does not impose coordination in either locomotion or righting; the unimpaired neuromuscular mechanism, working within the limits natural to the sp., does.

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