Biology:Tornaria

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Short description: Type of planktonic larva
A tornaria larva

A tornaria is the planktonic larva of some species of Hemichordata such as the acorn worms.[1][2] It is very similar in appearance to the bipinnaria larvae of starfishes, with convoluted bands of cilia running around the body.[1] It is an oval shaped, transparent larva. The diameter of the body is about 3 mm. It has an apical plate, which is a thickened region provided by a tuft of cilia and a pair of eye spots. The larva has a complete alimentary canal. The ciliary band stretches throughout the anterior and posterior region, and also the postoral region.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Nakajima Y; Humphreys T; Kaneko H; Tagawa K. (January 2004). "Development and neural organization of the tornaria larva of the Hawaiian hemichordate, Ptychodera flava". Zoological Science 21 (1): 69–78. doi:10.2108/0289-0003(2004)21[69:DANOOT2.0.CO;2]. PMID 14745106. 
  2. "tornaria". Merriam-Webster. 2015. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tornaria. Retrieved 9 July 2016.