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Larval stages of a living sea lily (stalked crinoid echinoderm)

Nature volume 421, pages 158–160 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The embryos and larvae of stalked crinoids, which are considered the most basal group of extant echinoderms1,2, have not previously been described. In contrast, much is known about the development of the more accessible stalkless crinoids (feather stars)3, which are phylogenetically derived from stalked forms4. Here we describe the development of a sea lily from fertilization to larval settlement. There are two successive larval stages: the first is a non-feeding auricularia stage with partly longitudinal ciliary bands (similar to the auricularia and bipinnaria larvae of holothurian and asteroid echinoderms, respectively); the second is a doliolaria larva with circumferential ciliary bands (similar to the earliest larval stage of stalkless crinoids). We suggest that a dipleurula-type larva is primitive for echinoderms and is the starting point for the evolution of additional larval forms within the phylum. From a wider evolutionary viewpoint, the demonstration that the most basal kind of echinoderm larva is a dipleurula is consistent with Garstang's auricularia theory5 for the phylogenetic origin of the chordate neural tube.

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Figure 1: Early development through auricularia larvae of the sea lily Metacrinus rotundus cultured in the dark in artificial seawater at 12 °C (Jamarin, Osaka) containing 50 µg ml-1 streptomycin and 100 U ml-1 penicillin.
Figure 2: Doliolaria larvae of M. rotundus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Kitazawa, H. Nakagawa and A. Hirata for technical assistance with scanning electron microscopy, A. Nishino for discussions, and N. D. Holland for reading the manuscript and making valuable comments. This work was supported by grants from The Japan Science Society to Y.H., and from the Sumitomo Foundation and MEXT Japan to S.A.

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Author notes

  1. Hiroaki Nakano, Taku Hibino and Tatsuo Oji: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Bldg. FSB-501, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, 277-8562, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan

    Hiroaki Nakano & Shonan Amemiya

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, 113-0033, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Taku Hibino, Yuko Hara & Shonan Amemiya

  3. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, 113-0033, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Tatsuo Oji

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  1. Hiroaki Nakano
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Correspondence to Shonan Amemiya.

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Nakano, H., Hibino, T., Oji, T. et al. Larval stages of a living sea lily (stalked crinoid echinoderm). Nature 421, 158–160 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01236

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