A Comparative Embryology Gallery

Many invertebrate embryos are truly lovely to look at and watch develop. They are astonishingly diverse and many do remarkable things. Many of them are easy to get, some in vast numbers, and do microscopy and experiments on. Here are a few snapshots, some of which link to more extensive descriptions. By default the thumbnails below link to a full-size image; as I have time and inclination more and more of them will link to a subdirectory of related images. On most computers these images will look downright awful unless you set your monitor to 16-bit color (thousands of colors) or higher.

Maintained by George von Dassow; last modified Oct. 4th 2000

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Aequorea Embryo
Cleaving zygote of the jellyfish Aequorea
Tubularia Larva
Actinula larva of the hydroid Tubularia
Stichopus Oocyte
Ovulation in the sea cucumber Stichopus
Aglantha Embryo
Two-cell embryo of the jellyfish Aglantha
Ophiopholis Pluteus
Pluteus larva of the brittle star Ophiopholis
Calliostoma Veliger
Veliger larva of the snail Calliostoma
Mopalia Egg
Egg (with hull) of the chiton Mopalia
Dendraster Gastrula
Gastrula of the sand dollar Dendraster
Membranipora Zygote
Zygote of the bryozoan Membranipora
Bolinopsis Embryo
Cleaving embryo of the ctenophore Bolinopsis
Chlamys Veliger
Veliger larva of the scallop Chlamys
Stichopus Gastrula
Gastrula of the sea cucumber Stichopus
Serpula Larva
Setiger larve of the polychaete Serpula
Boltenia Embryo
Early gastrula of the sea squirt Boltenia
Pollicipes Egg
Egg of the gooseneck barnacle Pollicipes
Micrura Larva
Pilidium larva of the nemertean Micrura
Purpuratus Zygotes
Zygotes of the sea urchin S. purpuratus
Ophiopholis Embryo
16-cell embryos of the brittle star Ophiopholis
Corella Tailbud
Tailbud embryo of the ascidian Corella
Serpula Larva
Setiger larve of the polychaete Serpula
Pisaster Oocyte
Oocyte of the sea star Pisaster
Phoronis Larva
Actinotroch larva of the phoronid Phoronis
Dendraster Embryo
Cleaving embryo of the sand dollar Dendraster
Stichopus Gastrula
Gastrula of the sea cucumber Stichopus
Sabellaria Larva
Setiger larva of the polychaete Sabellaria

All the images on these pages were taken during the 1998 and 1999 comparative embryology courses at Friday Harbor Labs, either by me or by the students in those classes, and they are not available for copying or any use elsewhere.

I posted this page first of all because I have a hard disk full of video snapshots of various kinds of embryos that I want to do something with. Second, it's a recommendation for the always-excellent comparative invertebrate embryology course at FHL. As far as I know there are very few such courses offered anywhere in the world.