Species Profile
Branchiostoma Lanceolatum
Lancelet / Amphioxus
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassLeptocardii
OrderUnknown
FamilyUnknown
Introduction
Branchiostoma lanceolatum lives buried in sandy marine bottoms.
It is free-living and filter-feeding.
Acts as a connecting link between invertebrates and vertebrates.
Size & Structure
01
Small, fish-like body
02
Pointed ends at both sides
03
Transparent and laterally compressed
04
Myotomes clearly visible
Branchiostoma Lanceolatum — 3D Model
No 3D model available
General Features
- Coelom
- Coelomate
- Body plan
- Tube within a tube body plan (Deuterostomous)
- Germ layer
- Triploblastic
- Metamerism
- Present
- Body symmetry
- Bilateral
- Fertilization
- External
- Digestion type
- Complete
- Nervous system
- Dorsal hollow nerve cord without brain
- Excretory organ
- Solenocytes
- Body temperature
- Poikilothermic, stenohaline
- Circulatory type
- Closed circulation, single
- Development type
- Indirect
- Respiratory type
- Pharyngeal respiration through gill slits
- Mode of excretion
- Ammonotelism
- Circulation system
- Closed
- Skeleton structure
- Endoskeleton absent (notochord present throughout life)
- Level of Organisation
- Organ system level
- Regulation of Osmosis
- Osmoregulator
Ecology
Filter feeder of plankton
Part of marine benthic food web
Maintains nutrient cycling
Economic Importance
Key organism in evolutionary biology
Used in comparative anatomy studies
Important zoology teaching specimen