Larval Development of the Oriental Lancelet, Branchiostoma belcheri, in Laboratory Mass Culture

Makoto Urata; Nobuo Yamaguchi; Yasuhisa Henmi; Kinya Yasui

doi:10.2108/zsj.24.787

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1 August 2007 Larval Development of the Oriental Lancelet, Branchiostoma belcheri, in Laboratory Mass Culture

Makoto Urata, Nobuo Yamaguchi, Yasuhisa Henmi, Kinya Yasui

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Zoological Science, 24(8):787-797 (2007). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.24.787

Abstract

We are successfully maintaining a laboratory colony of the lancelet Branchiostoma belcheri bred in the laboratory. Based on living individuals in this mass culture, morphological characteristics from the seven-day larval to benthic juvenile stages have been studied. Most striking was that later larval development of B. belcheri showed great individual variation even in a rather stable culture environment. Metamorphosis first occurred on 60 days post fertilization (dpf) and was continuously observed throughout the present study up to 100 dpf. Morphological traits such as the number of primary gill slits and body size at the start of metamorphosis are apparently affected by culture condition. Body size measured in the largest individuals showed nearly linear growth at 0.087 mm/day. The variability found in larval development calls for caution when developmental stages and chronological ages are compared between populations. However, the developmental flexibility of this animal also raises the possibility that growth and sexual maturation could be controlled artificially in captivity.

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Makoto Urata, Nobuo Yamaguchi, Yasuhisa Henmi and Kinya Yasui "Larval Development of the Oriental Lancelet, Branchiostoma belcheri, in Laboratory Mass Culture," Zoological Science 24(8), (1 August 2007). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.24.787

Received: 15 December 2006; Accepted: 1 March 2007; Published: 1 August 2007

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