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amphioxus
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- Amphioxus - n. - A fishlike creature (Amphioxus lanceolatus), two or three inches long, found in temperature seas; -- also called the lancelet. Its body is pointed at both ends. It is the lowest and most generalized of the vertebrates, having neither brain, skull, vertebrae, nor red blood. It forms the type of the group Acrania, Leptocardia, etc.
- Vertebrata - n. pl. - One of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom, comprising all animals that have a backbone composed of bony or cartilaginous vertebrae, together with Amphioxus in which the backbone is represented by a simple undivided notochord. The Vertebrata always have a dorsal, or neural, cavity above the notochord or backbone, and a ventral, or visceral, cavity below it. The subdivisions or classes of Vertebrata are Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia, Amphibia, Pisces, Marsipobranchia, and Leptocardia.
- Epicoele - n. - A cavity formed by the invagination of the outer wall of the body, as the atrium of an amphioxus and possibly the body cavity of vertebrates.