Definition of Amphioxus

1. Noun. Small translucent lancet-shaped burrowing marine animal; primitive forerunner of the vertebrates.

Exact synonyms: Lancelet
Generic synonyms: Cephalochordate
Group relationships: Genus Amphioxus

Definition of Amphioxus

1. n. A fishlike creature (Amphioxus lanceolatus), two or three inches long, found in temperature seas; -- also called the lancelet. Its body is pointed at both ends. It is the lowest and most generalized of the vertebrates, having neither brain, skull, vertebræ, nor red blood. It forms the type of the group Acrania, Leptocardia, etc.

Definition of Amphioxus

1. Noun. The lancelet ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Amphioxus

1. a lancelet [n -OXI or -OXUSES] - See also: lancelet

Medical Definition of Amphioxus

1. A fishlike creature (Amphioxus lanceolatus), two or three inches long, found in temperate seas; also called the lancelet. Its body is pointed at both ends. It is the lowest and most generalised of the vertebrates, having neither brain, skull, vertebrae, nor red blood. It forms the type of the group Acrania, Leptocardia, etc. Origin: NL, fr. Gr. + sharp. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Amphioxus

amphikaryon
amphikinetic
amphileukaemic
amphilic
amphilogy
amphimacer
amphimacers
amphimicrobe
amphimictic
amphimixes
amphineura
amphinucleolus
amphions
amphioxi
amphioxus (current term)
amphioxuses
amphipath
amphipathic
amphipaths
amphiphile
amphiphiles
amphiphilic
amphiphilicity
amphiphloic
amphiphobic
amphiphysin
amphiphyte
amphiphytes
amphiphytic

Literary usage of Amphioxus

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and (1910)
"On account of the absence of anything in the nature of a skull, amphioxus has been regarded as the type of a division, Acrania, in contrast with the ..."

2. A Text-book of Zoology by Thomas Jeffery Parker, William Aitcheson Haswell (1921)
"thoroughly investigated species, the Lancelot, amphioxus ... amphioxus is a small transparent animal, occurring near the shore and burrowing in sand ..."

3. Outlines of Chordate Development by William Erskine Kellicott (1913)
"MORPHOLOGICALLY amphioxus (Branchiostoma lanceolatum) is recognized as one of ... And in its mode of development, no less than in its structure, amphioxus ..."

4. The Scientific Memoirs of Thomas Henry Huxley by Thomas Henry Huxley, Michael Foster (1902)
"THE singular little fish amphioxus lanceolatus has been universally regarded as an extremely anomalous member of the Vertebrate series by reason of the ..."

5. Report of the Annual Meeting (1903)
"I had then the opportunity of examining the structure of the excretory organs of amphioxus in fresh and preserved specimens. As a result of this study, ..."

6. The Evolution of Man: A Popular Scientific Study by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (1910)
"This is the liver of the amphioxus, the simplest kind of liver that we meet in any ... This single main vessel ot the amphioxus goes like a closed circular ..."

7. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology by Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1876)
"He does not, for two reasons, believe that two nerves of amphioxus can be ... (2) Because he finds that each nerve in amphioxus supplies a complete myotome, ..."

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