Amphioxus

Vertebrate world, say hello to your Uncle Amphioxus!!  Or maybe not...

Once thought to be one of the first creatures to possess a vertebrate like substance, amphioxus has over time grown out of favor in the scientific community.  Now, it is thought that cephalopods may be closer to humans that previously thought.

 Just as a plus, be sure to watch this video in which two guys sing a (now factually inaccurate) song from the early 20th century about amphioxus.

 

It's a long, long way from amphioxus,

But we all came from there!

It wasn't much to look at, and it scarce knew how to swim.

And Nereis was very sure it hadn't come from him.

The molluscs wouldn't own it, and the arthropods got sore,

So the poor thing had to burrow in the sand along the shore.

He burrowed in the sand before a crab could nip his tail.

He said "Gill slits and myotomes are all to no avail

I've grown some metapleural folds, and sport an oral hood.  

And all these fine new characters don't do me any good!"

Chorus:

It's a long way from amphioxus

It's a long way to us…

It's a long way from amphioxus

To the meanest human cuss. 

 

It's good-bye, fins and gill slits,

Hello, lungs and hair!

It's a long, long way from amphioxus,

But we all came from there!

 

He sulked a while down in the sand without a bit of pep.

Then he stiffened up his notochord and said "I'll beat 'em yet!

Let 'em laugh and show their ignorance; I don't mind their jeers!

Just wait until they see me in a hundred million years!"

"My notochord shall turn into a chain of vertebrae;

As fins, my metapleural folds will agitate the sea.

My tiny dorsal nervous chord shall be a mighty brain  

And the vertebrates will dominate the animal domain!"

For more info about the song, check out this webpage.