Plants and Animals

What is a sea squirt?

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The sea squirt larva is a free-swimming animal resembling a tadpole. The head, which will become the entire body of the adult, contains a rudimentary brain and sense organs, a small pharynx and digestive tract, and a ventral heart. Incurrent and excurrent openings are located at the top of the head. The tail is a muscular appendage that functions as a swimming organ. It contains a hollow nerve tube (connected to the brain), and a notochord that extends into the head and keeps the animal from telescoping when its muscles contract. When the larva is ready to undergo metamorphosis it attaches to an object head downward. The tail, notochord, and nerve cord degenerate, the pharynx enlarges, and the other organs shift in position; the incurrent and excurrent openings develop siphons.

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