The larval morphology of the marine bryozoan Bowerbankia gracilis (Ctenostomata: Vesicularioidea)

Abstract

The larval morphology of the marine bryozoan Bowerbankia gracilis has been investigated by light and electron microscopy. The barrel-shaped larva (200 μm long and 150 μm in diameter) is light yellow without any apparent eyespots, although it is positively phototactic during its brief free-swimming existence. The primary morphological characteristics of the larva are: (1) a large corona that forms most of the larval surface, (2) a small apical disc without blastemas, (3) a deep pallial sinus lined by an extensive pallial epithelium, (4) an internal sac without regional specializations, and (5) a polypide rudiment in the oral hemisphere. This organization is characteristic of larvae of the ctenostome superfamily Vesicularioidea, and differs radically from the organization of all other bryozoan larvae examined. The major morphological differences occur in the size and organization of the apical disc, the pallial epithelium, and the internal sac. In most bryozoans, these regions of the larval epithelium represent rudiments of the polypide and the body wall epidermis of the ancestrula. The oral polypide rudiment, the extensive pallial epithelium, and the reduced internal sac in vesicularioid larvae indicate that their pattern of metamorphosis also differs radically from the metamorphoses of other bryozoans.