Hemichordata- type study

Balanoglossus
 Balanoglossus

Balanos- acorn (fruit of oak)

Glossa- tongue

• Acorn worm or tongue worm

• Evolutionary link b/w
invertebrates and vertebrates
Habitat

• Marine animal and inhabits all the seas of the world found in shallow
waters between tide marks along the coast of warm and temperate
oceans.
 Habits
• Burrowing
Proboscis
2 sets of muscles

Mucous glands
Mucus
Protective device
• Food and feeding- eat up sand or mud and obtains diatoms proto zones other
microorganisms and detritus

• Response to stimuli- less sensitive in response to external stimuli.

• Reproduction
o Sexes are separate
o Fertilization is external
o Tornaria larva- free swimming planktonic form.
 External features

• Size- 10- 15 cm in length

• Colour- Most forms are dull coloured, though reddish tints are present
• Symmetry- Bilateral symmetry
• Body division- 3 parts

• Proboscis or protostome

• Collar or mesosome o Branchial region

• Trunk or metasome o Hepatic region
o Caudal or post-hepatic region
Proboscis or protostome

• Anterior most division of the body

• Short club-shaped structure

• Hollow and thick muscular walls

• Communicates with the exterior by a single

proboscis pore situated on the left side of the

proboscis.
 Collar or mesosome

• Middle, short and cylindrical part.

• Its flap-like or funnel-like anterior margin, termed
collarette, surrounds and conceals the proboscis
stalk and the posterior part of proboscis.
• Ventrally, below the proboscis stalk, the collarette or
collar-rim encloses a permanently open wide
aperture, the mouth.
• It opens into the buccal cavity inside the collar.
• The posterior end of collar is well
demarcated from the trunk by a circular
constriction.
• The wall of collar is thick, highly muscular
and encloses a cavity, the collar coelom.
• It opens to outside through a pair of collar
pores into the first pair of gill pouches.
Trunk or metasome

• Posterior and largest part of the body.

• Appears annulated due to circular constrictions on the surface.

• All along its length, the trunk bears a mid-dorsal and a mid-

ventral ridge, each accommodating its corresponding nerve

and blood vessel.

o Branchial region
o Hepatic region
o Caudal or post-hepatic region
 Balanoglossus
Branchiogenital region

• A pair of lateral, thin, flat and longitudinal flaps, the genital

wings, containing the gonads.
• The anterior half of branchiogenital region bears two
longitudinal rows of small branchial apertures or gill pores.
• One row of gill pores is mounted on a prominent longitudinal
ridge on each side of the mid-dorsal ridge.
• The number of gill pores increases with the age of the animal.
• The two genital wings can be curved to meet mid-dorsally to
conceal the gill pores

Hepatic region

• Somewhat smaller than the genital region.

• It is greenish in colour, and its dorsal surface is marked
by the presence of numerous intestinal sacculations
produced by projecting hepatic caeca of the intestine
along with body wall.
Abdominal Region:

• The abdominal region is longest and cylindrical

• It tapers gradually and has a terminal anus.
• The coelom of the trunk is divided into two lateral
closed cavities by vertical partition between the
body wall and gut-wall.
Hemichordata- type study
Balanoglossus
Body wall
 Body wall

• Epidermis
• Inner musculature
• Peritoneum
Epidermis

• Single layer of epithelial cells.

• The epithelial cells are of tall columnar type
and have their nuclei near their broader
bases.

➢ Ciliated epidermal cells are more numerous and each bears cilia at its free
end.

➢ Gland cells are lying interspersed between the ciliated epidermal cells.
Three kinds:

❖ Goblet cells are flask-shaped and secrete

mucus
❖ Reticulate cells are long cells with
vacuolated cytoplasm which also secrete
mucus
❖ Mulberry cells are long cells containing
coarse cytoplasmic granules and, hence,
are also called granular gland cells

• The body wall of proboscis and anterior part of the collar also contain
neurosensory cells which take darker stain than the rest.
• There is no dermis.
• Below the epidermis is a thick nervous

layer consisting of bipolar and

quadripolar nerve cells and fibres which

form a network lying in close contact with

the epidermal cells.

• This layer is traversed by the filamentous

bases of the epidermal cells that are

connected with the basement membrane.

• The fibres of sensory epidermal cells

synapse with the fibres of nerve cells.

• Below the nervous layer is a thick basement

membrane made up of two lamellae

pressed together.

• The basement membrane supports the

epidermis and serves for attachment of

underlying muscles.
Musculature

• Greatly reduced
• Replaced by muscles arising from the coelomic epithelium
▪ Smooth muscle fibres
▪ Circular muscle fibres
▪ Longitudinal muscle fibres
▪ Diagonal muscle fibres

• Lies below the basement membrane.

• The proboscis musculature

o Thin layer of circular muscle fibres

o Thick layer of longitudinal muscle fibres.

• The longitudinal muscles fibres obliterate the proboscis coelom and some of
the fibres cross one another diagonally.
• The collar musculature is confined to the collarette and consists of an

inconspicuous layer of circular fibres and prominent bands of longitudinal and

diagonal fibres.

• The longitudinal and diagonal fibres, along with connective tissue, also traverse

the collar coelom in a crisscross pattern.

• The trunk musculature consists mainly of moderately developed longitudinal

muscle fibres which are better developed on the central side.

• The muscle layer is interrupted by the dorsal and ventral mesenteries and the

lateral septa.

• Several radial muscle fibres are also found in the trunk region.

• The radial muscle fibres extend between the digestive tract and the body wall

and traverse the trunk coelom.

Peritoneum

• It is found just beneath the musculature and outside the coelom.

• It is also called the coelomic epithelium.
Functions of Body Wall:

❖ The body wall protects the tender internal organs from mechanical injuries

❖ Mucus secreted by gland cells adhere sand particles of burrow formed by

the animal.

❖ Foul smell of mucus is protective

❖ Neurosensory cells receive and transmit the stimuli.

❖ Musculature helps in locomotion.

Hemichordata- type study
Balanoglossus
Coelom
 Coelom

❖ Enterocoelous

❖ Divided into three portions

▪ Unpaired proboscis coelom

▪ A pair of collar coeloms
▪ A pair of trunk coeloms

❖ Completely separated from each other by septa

❖ Lined with coelomic epithelium or peritoneum

 Proboscis Coelom or Protocoel

• Largely occupied by muscles and

connective tissue and a few structures like
buccal diverticulum, glomerulus and central
sinus or heart.
• Dorsally, towards the posterior side, the
proboscis coelom is divided by a dorsal
mesentery into right and left ventro-lateral
compartments which extend into the
proboscis stalk
• The left compartment is larger than the right
and communicates with the exterior
through the proboscis pore situated mid-
dorsally at the base of the posterior stalk.

• Ventrally the proboscis coelom is divided by

a ventral mesentery into right and left
ventro-lateral compartments which are
continuous behind the mesentery.
 Collar coelom or mesocoel

• Two cavities lying side by side in the collar,

one on each side between the collar wall
and buccal cavity.
• The two cavities are partitioned by
incomplete mid-dorsal and mid-ventral
mesenteries.
• The collar coelom does not communicate
with the proboscis coelom, but posteriorly,
its each cavity opens into the first gill sac of
its side by a canal called collar canal.
• Each collar coelom opens to the
exterior by a collar pore.
• The collar coelom is greatly obliterated
by the collar musculature and
connective tissue.
 Trunk Coelom or metacoel

• The trunk coelom has two closed cavities lying

between the body wall and alimentary canal.
• The two cavities are separated by an incomplete
dorsal and a complete ventral mesentery.
• In the branchio-genital region each cavity is further
divided by a lateral septum into a dorso-lateral and
ventro-lateral compartment.
• The trunk coelom is separated from the collar coelom
by a collar-trunk septum.

• The trunk coelom is obliterated by the trunk musculature.

Coelomic Fluid:

• The proboscis and collar coeloms communicate with the exterior and get
filled with sea water through their pores, which keeps them turgid.
• The trunk coelom is filled with a watery coelomic fluid having amoeboid
coelomocytes.
• The coelomocytes originate from the coelomic epithelium.
• Each coelomocyte possesses a single large vacuole.

Behave like leucocytes by secreting a membrane around

any foreign body that may invade the animal.
 Hemichordata- type study
Balanoglossus
Digestive System
 Alimentary Canal

• Straight tube
• Four regions

▪ Buccal tube
▪ Pharynx
▪ Oesophagus
▪ Intestine

• Their walls are composed of ciliated epithelium lined externally

by basement membrane and devoid of muscle fibres.
Mouth
• It is a wide gap at the base of proboscis, lying ventrally between collarette and the proboscis stalk.
• Two sets of muscle fibres, the radial fibres to open it and the concentric fibres to closed it.
Buccal Cavity
• Lies in the collar region
• Lined with ciliated and glandular cells.
• From its roof arises a stiff, hollow buccal diverticulum extending into the proboscis coelom.
• Posteriorly it extends up to the collar-trunk septum and then extends into the trunk as pharynx.
Pharynx
• Lies in the branchial region of the trunk.
• Its wall bears a longitudinal constriction along each lateral side.
• These lateral constrictions project into its lumen as ridges, called parabranchial ridges consisting of
tall columnar cells.
• These ridges and constrictions incompletely divide the pharynx into a dorsal branchial portion (pore
pharynx) and a ventral digestive portion (digestive pharynx).
Branchial Portion of Pharynx

o The dorsal branchial portion of pharynx

is perforated dorso-laterally by two rows
of U-shaped gill-slits.
o It is concerned with respiration.

Digestive Portion of Pharynx

o The digestive portion of pharynx is concerned with the food concentration,

digestion and absorption of food.
o Its ciliated epithelial wall contains gland cells.
Oesophagus
o Behind the last pair of gill-slits the
pharynx continues into the oesophagus.
o The dorsal and ventral division of the
pharynx continues for some distance into
the oesophagus; in this region, the dorsal
part of the oesophagus is called post-
branchial canal which possesses thick,
folded and glandular epithelium.

o The posterior part of the oesophagus reduces in diameter and has deeply
furrowed epithelium.
Intestine

o Behind the oesophagus is an intestine.

o It occupies the hepatic and post-hepatic regions of the trunk.
o The hepatic region of the intestine is highly vascular.
o Its epithelial cells are dark green or dark brown and its dorsal wall forms
numerous prominent sacculations called hepatic caeca which push the body
wall outwards and are, thus, visible externally.
o The post- hepatic region of the
intestine is connected with the ventral
body wall by the pygochord.

o The intestine has the form of a simple

tube and bears a pair of dorso-lateral
grooves lined by tall epithelial cells
bearing long cilia.
Anus

o Posteriorly the intestine opens out through the anus situated at the extreme
hind end of the body.
o The anus often possesses sphincter muscles.
 Food, Feeding and Digestion

• Ciliary feeder
Hemichordata- type study
Balanoglossus
Respiratory System
 Respiratory System

➢ Branchial Pharynx

➢ Branchial Sacs
 Branchial Pharynx

o Dorsal respiratory or branchial portion

Para-branchial ridges
o Ventral digestive portion

• Dorso-laterally, on each side, the branchial

portion of pharynx is perforated by a
longitudinal series of numerous U-shaped
openings, the gill-slits.
• Each gill-slit is a broad oval slit in the
beginning, but later, a hollow projection of
dorsal pharyngeal wall, called tongue bar,
grows into the slit making it U-shaped.
• The hollow tongue bars enclose coelomic
cavity and do not touch the ventral side of the
gill-slits.
• Gill-septa

Solid and do not enclose coelom

• Synapticula

• The tongue-bars and gill-septa are

supported by M-shaped skeletal rods.

• Thus, each tongue bar contains two arms

of two adjacent skeletal rods.

• Each U-shaped gill-slit is richly lined by

cilia called lateral cilia.

 Branchial Sacs

• Gill-slits do not open directly to outside.

• Each gill-slit opens into a gill-pouch called branchial
sac
• Each branchial sac in turn opens to the exterior by a
small, independent gill-pore.
• The collar coelom also communicates with the
common branchial sac of its side through a collar
canal.

• The gill-pores are visible externally in two longitudinal rows, one on each side
of the mid-dorsal ridge in the branchiogenital region of the trunk.
 Mechanism of Respiration:

• Food- cum-respiratory current

• Enters the pharynx through
mouth, then passes through gill-
slits into the branchial sacs and
finally leaves through the gill-
pores.
• The tongue bars are richly
supplied with blood capillaries and
take part in respiration.
• The blood of their capillary networks takes up oxygen
dissolved in water and diffuses carbon dioxide to it.
 Hemichordata- type study
Balanoglossus
Blood Vascular System
 Blood Vascular System

• Open or lacunar type

• It consists of:

o A colourless blood
o A central sinus and a heart vesicle
o Distributing vessels or arteries and sinuses
o Collecting vessels or veins.
 A colourless blood

• The blood is colourless fluid containing few white corpuscles which

are possibly detached endothelial cells.
• The respiratory pigment is probably absent.
 A central sinus and a heart vesicle

• 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.
Distributing vessels or arteries and sinuses

• Blood from the glomerulus is carried

away by four arteries.

• Two arteries, a mid- dorsal proboscis artery

and a mid- ventral proboscis artery, supply
the proboscis.
• 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.
 Collecting vessels or veins

• 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.
 Collecting vessels or veins

• 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.
Thank you