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Bully for Brachiopods

Nature (1999)Cite this article

The heyday of the lamp shells, or brachiopods, is over. Of more than 12,000 species known as fossils, only 350 species exist today. Yet the classification of these creatures is a zoological hot potato, as Alexandra Stechmann and Martin Schlegel of the Universität Leipzig, Germany report.

Like clams, brachiopods live within a pair of hinged shells, or valves. But once you look closely, a different story emerges. Whereas clam valves are symmetrical, shielding the left and right sides of the body, brachiopod valves are asymmetrical, shifted ninety-degrees to cover the top (dorsal) and belly (ventral) of the animal. In addition, brachiopods have a unique organ called a 'lophophore', a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of tentacles surrounding the mouth.

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References

  1. Stechmann,A. & Schlegel, M. Analysis of the complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of the brachiopod. Terebratulina retusa places Brachiopoda within the protostomes Proceeding of the Royal Society of London Biological Sciences 266, 2043 1999

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Authors
  1. Henry Gee
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Gee, H. Bully for Brachiopods. Nature (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/news991118-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news991118-9

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