Organ Development and Specialization in Lamprey Species

Abstract

The excretory system of lampreys is both a unique and a highly specialized organ system. Morphogenesis of the renal tissue during the extended ontonogenetic phases of larval life and metamorphosis provides an opportunity to examine various developmental parameters through three generations of kidneys. It also provides some clue to the possible evolution of the excretory system in lampreys, and the structure of the kidney in organisms consider ancestral to all vertebrates