Question

What is Branchiostoma?

Answer 1

These small vaguely eel- or snake-like animals are close relatives of vertebrates. The scientific name means "gill-mouth", referring to their anatomy – unlike vertebrates, they do not have a true head(with a skull capsule, eyes nose a well-developed brain etc.), but merely a mouth adjacent to the gill-slits, with the slightly enlarged anterior  end of the dorsal nerve cord above and in front of them.