Marine Wildlife Encyclopedia
Lancelet Branchiostoma lanceolatum
Looking like a thin, semitransparent, elongate leaf, the lancelet is difficult to spot in the coarse sediments in which it lives. It usually lies half-buried in the sand with its head end sticking out. Muscle blocks that run along both sides of its body show through the skin as a pattern of V-shaped stripes. At the head end, a delicate hood ringed by stiff tentacles overhangs the mouth. This feature filters out large sediment particles but allows smaller, organic particles to pass so that they can be ingested.
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- Subphylum Cephalochordata
- Length Up to 2 in (6 cm)
- Depth Shore and shallows
- Habitat Coarse sand
- Distribution Coastal temperate waters of northeastern Atlantic, and Mediterranean
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