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Figure 1 | EvoDevo

Figure 1

From: Echinoderm conundrums: Hox genes, heterochrony, and an excess of mouths

Figure 1

Settlement and metamorphosis in the crinoid Oxycomanthus japonicus, modified from [[9]]. (A) A swimming, non-feeding doliolaria larva near settlement, with the A/P axis indicated. At this stage the vestibular depression that defines the future oral surface lies at a roughly 90° angle from this axis with the preoral adhesive organ (arrow, in red) located just above it. At settlement (B), the adhesive organ attaches to the substratum and subsequently acts as the attachment disc, and the preoral region begins to narrow and elongate to form the stalk. The vestibule has closed over internalizing the oral surface and the future site of mouth formation. (C) Late cystidean stage, with the visceral organs (coeloms and gut) rotated so the vestibular sac, now open to expose the mouth, points upward. Colors indicate the developing gut (yellow), axocoel and hydrocoel (light blue, the former is the smaller), and the left and right somatocoels (green, the latter is darker). A lighter red is used to trace the expected extent of the preoral larval ectoderm during rotation and stalk elongation, assuming its expansion occurs without distortion or significant cell rearrangement, though precisely how early ectodermal domains map to later stages is not known. Nevertheless, it does seem that the ectoderm of the stalk comes largely from preoral larval ectoderm, whereas, in contrast, internal structures, including all or parts of the chambered organ, and possibly the ligaments, appear to derive from the right somatocoel, as indicated by the green rectangle. The query is a reminder that these are all suppositions based on the morphology that have yet to be verified experimentally.

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