Name: France Joseph O.

Pascual
Section: BS Biology 2-2

Exercise No. 2
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES

PART I. Phylum Hemichordata, A Prechordate Group

Although the Hemichordata are here separatd from the chordate as a distinct group. They
possess certain prechordate features and hence, are of interest in the study of chordates. The
Hemichordates are divisible into two groups: the wormlike Enteronueta, or balanoglossids, and
the colonial Pterobranchia, resembling bryozoans.

A. External Features of Balanoglossus

Specimen: Dolichoglossus sp.

Examine a preserve balanoglossid and study its external anatomy. Make a drawing of the
animal.

Label: Proboscis, collar, trunk, proboscis stalk, buccal cavity, branchiogenital, hepatic region,
genital ridge, gill pores, hepatic caeca.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What is the chordate structure of the balanoglossids?

Balanoglossus is an elongated and worm­like animal. The length of the body usually
ranges from 10-15 cm with the exception of Balanoglossus aurantiacus of the south east of the
United States attains about 1 meter in length. It can construct a burrow up to a depth of 75 cm
or more. The body is divisible into three major parts—the proboscis or protosome, collar or
mesosome and trunk or metasome.
The proboscis is a short club-shaped struc­ture forming the anterior most division of the
body. The proboscis narrows posteriorly to a proboscis stalk. It is hollow and communicates with
the exterior by a single proboscis pore situated on the left side of the proboscis.
The median part of the body consists of a flap of muscular tissue forming the collar. The
proboscis is anterior to the collar. The pro­boscis stalk and a portion of the posterior part of the
proboscis are concealed by the collar. The collar cavity is paired and opens to the exterior by
two apertures. The collar houses the mouth on the ventral side.
The trunk is rather long. The branchiogeni­tal region is marked by a pair of thin flap-like
longitudinal genital ridges which contain the gonads. Double rows of gill-slits or pharyngeal slits
are present on the dorsal surface of this region. The gill-slits increase in number as the animal
grows older.
The gill-slits are placed on a prominent elon­gated ridge. The hepatic region is externally
marked by the sacculations of the intestine. The caudal region is more or less uniform in
diameter and is marked externally by annulations.
 The trunk bears a mid-ventral and a mid-dorsal ridge which contain the longitudinal
blood vessels and the longitudinal nerves. The hepatic region tapers posteriorly and terminates
into the anus.

2. Give the phylogenetic significance of the balanoglossids?

The position of Hemichordata, in the scheme of classification of animals, has been

controversial. In 1814, Sedgwick and Huxley suggested the affinities of Enteropneusta
(Hemichordata) with the vertebrates and it was in 1885 Bateson considered this group as a
subphylum of the phylum Chordata.

Metschnikoff (1865) stated that Enteropneusta had certain affinities with Echinodermata.
Spengel (1893) showed the relationship of Enteropneusta with Annelida.

But on the basis of general organisation, some recent workers, such as Van der Horst
(1939), Dawydoff (1948), Marcus (1958) and Hyman (1959) have thought it proper to remove
this group from phylum Chordata to give it the status of an independent invertebrate phylum.

The name “Hemichordata” is, however, retained for the group because it suggests that
its members are related to chordates, i.e., they are “half’ or “part” chordates, a fact that is
undisputed.

3. Describe the heart of balanoglossids.

The central sinus is a small elongated non- contractile sinus located in the proboscis just
above the buccal diverticulum. Just above it is a closed triangular cardiac sac or heart vesicle.
Its ventral wall is muscular and contracts rhythmically. The central sinus receives blood from
collecting vessels that open into its posterior end. Anteriorly, it pumps blood into several afferent
vessels which form a plexus in the glomerulus lying in front of it. In glomerulus the blood gets rid
of excretory wastes.

Blood from the glomerulus is carried away by four arteries. Of these two arteries, a mid-
dorsal proboscis artery and a mid- ventral proboscis artery, supply the proboscis. The other two,
efferent glomerular arteries, run backward along the two sides of buccal diverticulum, encircle
the buccal tube as peribranchial vessels (which are actually of the nature of plexuses) and unite
in a single longitudinal ventral vessel that runs up to the posterior end of the body through the
ventral mesentery.

The ventral vessel, on its way, gives out a ventral collar vessel to the collar, a ring vessel
to the collar- trunk septum and an afferent branchial artery to each gill-septum in which it
bifurcates to supply two adjacent tongue bars. All these branches break up into a system of
sinuses in their respective structures. All along its length, the ventral vessel also supplies the
body wall and gut wall by an elaborate network of sinuses. The ventral vessel has muscular
contractile walls and the blood flows backwards in it.

Blood from body wall, gut wall and branchial apparatus (efferent branchial vessels) is
collected by a single median dorsal vessel which runs through the dorsal mesentery, from
posterior end up to the collar. It has muscular and contractile walls and the blood flows forward
in it. At the anterior of collar, the dorsal vessel dilates a little to form a venous sinus. The venous
sinus receives a lateral proboscis vein from each side of proboscis and then opens into the
central sinus.

4. What structures combine the invertebrate and vertebrate characters of the

balanoglossids?

Bateson (1887) included Hemichordata (Balanoglossus) in phylum Chordata, since then

a close relationship has been acknowledged between hemichordates and chordates.
Additionally, The phylogenetic relationship of hemichordates and chordates is based on the
supposed presence of the three fundamental chordate characters in both groups: a notochord,
central nervous system, and pharyngeal gill-clefts. The structure and function of pharynx and
branchial apparatus are similar to those of Cephalochordata and Urochordata. Origin of coelom
is similar in both Hemichordata and Cephalochordata, it is enterocoelous.
 Exercise No. 2
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES

PART I. Subphylum Urochordata

The adult Urochordata or tunicates bear no resemblance to vertebrates, but the tadpole
larva exhibits pronounce chordate characteristics. The notochord in Urochordata is confine to
the tail of the larva.

A. External Features of the Tunicates

Specimen: Styela sp. (Sea squirt)

Examine a preserved sea squirt and study its external anatomy. Draw the animal.

Label: Oral or incurrent siphon, atrial or excurrent siphon, tunic or test.

B. Internal Features of Tunicates

Specimen: Styela sp. (Sea squirt)

Dissect, study and make a diagrammatic drawing of the internal anatomy of the Sea squirt.

Label: mantle, pharynx, esophagus, atrium, stomach, intestine, anus, ganglion, endostyle or
hypobranchial groove, languets, periparyngeal bag, gill slits.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What is the chordate feature of tunicate development?

Members of Urochordata are also known as tunicates. The name tunicate derives from
the cellulose-like carbohydrate material, called the tunic, which covers the outer body of
tunicates. Although tunicates are classified as chordates, only the larval form possesses all four
common structures. Adults only maintain pharyngeal slits and lack a notochord, a dorsal hollow
nerve cord, and a post-anal tail.

Most tunicates are hermaphrodites. Tunicate larvae hatch from eggs inside the adult
tunicate’s body. After hatching, a tunicate larva swims for a few days until it finds a suitable
surface on which it can attach, usually in a dark or shaded location. It then attaches via the head
to the surface and undergoes metamorphosis into the adult form, at which point the notochord,
nerve cord, and tail disappear.

2. What were the chordate characteristics of the sea squirt?

 Sea squirts belong to the phylum Chordata, which includes all animals with a spinal
chord, a supporting notochord (backbone), and gill slits at one point in their lives--everything
from fish to humans. Tunicates have all these features as larvae, when they resemble tadpoles.

3. Give the functions of the following:

a. siphon
Sea squirts have two siphons - an inhalant siphon, which they use to pull water into their
body, and an exhalant siphon, which they use to expel water and wastes. When disturbed, a sea
squirt may eject water from its siphon, which is how this creature got its name.

b. tunic
Tunicates actually "wear" tunics. They secrete the leathery sac--called a tunic--that
protects the animal. There are two openings in the sac, called "siphons." Cilia on the pharynx
move about to create a current and draw water in through the incurrent siphon.

c. gill slits
Water taken into the incurrent siphon enters the pharynx and passes out through the gill
slits, leaving food particles trapped in the pharynx. Thus, the gill slits in tunicates serve a
feeding function, not a respiratory function. The sea squirt larva is a free-swimming animal
resembling a tadpole.
 Exercise No. 2
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES

PART III. Subphylum Cephalochordate

The little animal known as amphioxus is of great interest because of many primitive and
generalized chordate features, which also light on vertebrate Amphioxus lives along the ocean
shores in coarse sandy or shelly bottom with the oral hood protruding .

A. External Anatomy of Amphioxus

Specimen: Prepare slide of Amphioxus (Branchiostoma sp.)

Examine the whole mount of the Amphioxus under lower power objective . Identify the parts and
draw the external anatomy of the animal.

Label: Oral hood, vestibule, tentacles or cirri, metapleural folds or lateral fins, atriopore, caudal
fin, dorsal fin, anus, muscle segments or myotomes, myosepta, gonads or sex glands.

B. Internal Anatomy of Amphioxus

Specimen: Prepared whole mount of Amphioxus (Branchiostoma sp.) Examine a stained
mounted specimen under low power objective and identify the various parts of the internal
structure of the animal from the slide.

Label: Fin rays, myotomes, wheel organ, Hatchecks pit, Hatchecks groove, velum, tentacles,
pharynx, peripharyngeal band, gill bars or branchial bars, gill slits, or pharygeal clefts, atrium,
esophagus, stomach or midgut, liver or hepatic caecum, midgut caecum, iliocolch ring, intestine
or hindgut, notochord, neural tube or central nervous system, eyes, brain vesicle, pigment spot,
flagellated pit.

C. Cross section through the pharyngeal region of Amphioxus

Specimen: Prepared slide of Amphioxus

Examine the cross section through the pharyngeal region of the amphioxus with the low power
objective.

Label: epidermis, dorsal fin, metapleural folds, myotomes, neural tube, neurocoel, notochord,
pharynx, epibranchial groove, caecum (liver), gonads, nephridia.
REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What evidence support the concept of a common close ancestry of the echinoderms,
the hemichordates and the chordates?

Echinoderms are deuterostome marine organisms. This phylum of animals bear a

calcareous endoskeleton composed of ossicles covered by a spiny skin. Echinoderms possess
a water-based circulatory system. The madreporite is the point of entry and exit for water for the
water vascular system. The characteristic features of Chordata are a notochord, a dorsal hollow
nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. Chordata contains two clades of invertebrates:
Urochordata (tunicates) and Cephalochordata (lancelets), together with the vertebrates. Most
tunicates live on the ocean floor and are suspension feeders. Lancelets are suspension feeders
that feed on phytoplankton and other microorganisms.

Hemichordata and Chordata are two deuterostome phyla. Alongside the phylum
Echinodermata, Hemichrodata and Chordate have a place with a typical ancestor. Both
hemichordates and chordates are coelomates. Hemichordates are worm-like, marine animals
while chordates live in water, land, and air . Echinoderm larva is a two-sided fit as a fiddle which
is like the larval phase of hemichordates. Differences occur as echinoderms are in adult stage.

2. What is a notochord and what is its relationship to chordate animal?

The chordates are named for the notochord, which is a flexible, rod-shaped mesodermal
structure that is found in the embryonic stage of all chordates and in the adult stage of some
chordate species. It is strengthened with glycoproteins similar to cartilage and covered with a
collagenous sheath. The notochord is located between the digestive tube and the nerve cord.

In some chordates, the notochord acts as the primary axial support of the body
throughout the animal's lifetime. In vertebrates, the notochord is present during embryonic
development, at which time it induces the development of the neural tube which serves as a
support for the developing embryonic body.

3. Give the functions of the following:

a. wheel organ
The wheel organ is the specialized epithelium in the roof and the sides of the adult
amphioxus oral cavity. The task of the wheel organ is to transport dissolved particles towards
the mouth. It draws food through the use of its cilia for digestion.

b. gills
An opening leading from the pharynx to the exterior in aquatic vertebrates and lancelets.
In lancelets. It functions as filter feeding, while they contain the gills and are usually in the form
of a series of long slits in fishes.

c. nephridia
It is a unit of the excretory system in many primitive invertebrates and also in the amphioxus; it
expels wastes from the body cavity to the (usually aquatic) exterior.
 Exercise No. 2
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES

PART IV. Order Cyclostomata

The cyclostomata or round-mouthed fishes constitute the lowest group of living verterbrates.
However, they led a semiparasitic life with some accompanying specialization and
degeneration; but it is now believed that much of their structure is primitive. They are divided
into groups, the Petromyzontis, or lampreys, and the Myxinoidea, or hagfishes. The former
occur in streams, lakes, and the ocean but always ascend freshwater streams to breed: the
myxinoids are marine.

A. External Anatomy of Lamprey

Specimen: Petromyzon sp.(lamprey)

Examine a preserved lamprey and study its external structure. Draw.

Label: Dorsal fins, tail fins, fin rays, buccal funnel, lip tentacles, teeth, tongue, nasophyseal
opening, eye, gill slit.

B. Sagittal section of the anterior end of Lamprey

Make a median sagittal section of the specimen to a point about an inch posterior to the last gill
slits or study a section of a reserved animal. Examine the cut surface and identify the various
parts. Draw.

Label: Esophagus, buccal cavity, pharynx, velum, gill slits, gill pouches, gill lamellae, notochord,
branchial basket, neural canal, spinal cord, brain, nasopharyngeal sac, nasopharygeal canal,
pericardial cavity.

C. The Ammocoetes Larva

The cyclostomes have a larval stage called Ammocoetes ( because originally supposed to be a
distinct genus), which endures from two to five or six years. In the lampreys, this larva lives in
burrows in the bottoms of sreams, feeding on diatoms, desmids and other minute organisms.
The ammocoete larva is of great phylogenetic importance as illustrating primitive vertebrate
structure.

Specimen: Prepared whole mount of Ammocoetes larva

1. Whole mount of Ammocoetes larva

Examine a whole mount of ammocoete larva under low power objective and identify the
following parts. Draw.

Label: Oral hood, oral papillae, gill, telencephalon, olfactory bulb, diencephalons, infundibulum,
pineal body, mesencephalon, rhombencephalon, buccal cavity, subpharygeal gland, esophagus,
intestine, gall bladder.

2. Older larvae of Ammocoete

Examine an older larvae with hand lens or under binocular microscope. Identify the following.
Draw.

Label: Oral hood, nasopharygeal opening, gill slits, myotemea, anus, caudal and dorsal fins,
eyes.

3. Section of ammocoete through the pharyngeal region

Study the cross section of ammocoete through the pharyngeal region under LPO. Identify and
draw the following structures seen under the microscope.

Label: Dorsal and ventral fin fold, neural canal, spinal cord, notochord, dorsal aorta, posterior
cardinal veins, esophagus, liver, pronephros, intestine, kidney.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Describe briefly the two groups of lamprey.

Hagfishes are eel-like scavengers that live on the ocean floor and feed on dead
invertebrates, other fishes, and marine mammals. Hagfishes are entirely marine and are found
in oceans around the world, except for the polar regions. A unique feature of these animals is
the slime glands beneath the skin that release mucus through surface pores. This mucus allows
the hagfish to escape from the grip of predators. Hagfish can also twist their bodies in a knot to
feed and sometimes eat carcasses from the inside out.

Lampreys are similar to hagfishes in size and shape; however, lampreys possess some
vertebral elements. Lampreys lack paired appendages and bone, as do the hagfishes. As
adults, lampreys are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Many species have
a parasitic stage of their life cycle during which they are ectoparasites of fishes.

2. Give the function(s) of the following:

a. dorsal fin
Both anterior and dorsal fins of lamprey are used to maintain an upright orientation in the
water while moving about.

b. tail fin
The caudal fin is used to thrust the lamprey’s body through the water.
c. gill slits
The openings that lead to the internal gills that are used to conduct water into and out of
the pouches, thus, freeing the buccal funnel for feeding the host.
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES
PART I. Phylum Hemichordata, A Prechordate Group

Figure 2.1. External anatomy of Balanoglossus

ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES
PART I. Subphylum Urochordata

Fig.2.2a External Features of Tunicates, Styela sp.

Fig. 2.2b. Internal Features of a Tunicates, Styela sp.

Adult Tunicate (LEFT)*; Young Tunicate (RIGHT)*
 ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES
PART III. Subphylum Cephalochordate

Fig. 2.3a. External anatomy of Amphioxus (Branchiostoma sp.)

Fig. 2.3b. Internal anatomy of Amphioxus (Branchiostoma sp.) anterior end.

Fig. 2.3c. Cross section through oral hood of Amphioxus (Branchiostoma sp.)
Fig. 2.3d. Transverse section through the pharyngeal region of the female Amphioxus
(Branchiostoma sp.) LEFT*

Fig. 2.3e. . Transverse section through the pharyngeal region of the male Amphioxus
(Branchiostoma sp.) RIGHT*

Fig. 2.3f. Cross section through intestinal region ( Anterior to Atriopore) of Amphioxus
(Branchiostoma sp.) LEFT*

Fig. 2.3g. Cross-section through tail of Amphioxus (Branchiostoma sp.) RIGHT*

ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF LOWER TYPES OF CHORDATES
PART IV. Order Cyclostomata

Fig.2.4a. External features of Lamprey (Petromyzon)

Fig.2.4b. The buccal cavity of Lamprey(Petromyzon)

Fig. 2.4c. Sagittal section of the anterior end of a Lamprey (Petromyzon)

Fig. 2.5c. Section of ammocoete larvae through pharyngeal region

Fig. 2.5d. Section through the trunk of an ammocoete larvae