• The original scheme groups hagfish and lampreys together as cyclostomes (or historically, Agnatha ), as the oldest surviving class of vertebrates alongside gnathostomes (the now-ubiquitous jawed vertebrates). (eol.org)
  • Like its counterpart in the jawed vertebrates, the lamprey Mb (aMb) is preferentially expressed in the skeletal muscle and presumably supports O 2 to this tissue. (biomedcentral.com)
  • the two form the sister group to jawed vertebrates, and living hagfish remain similar to hagfish from around 300 million years ago. (eol.org)
  • The alternative scheme proposed that jawed vertebrates are more closely related to lampreys than to hagfish (i.e., that vertebrates include lampreys but exclude hagfish), and introduced the category craniata to group vertebrates near hagfish. (eol.org)
  • Given their unique phylogenetic position and status as one of the few groups of vertebrate ectoparasites, lampreys are expected to have developed distinct metabolites specifically adapted for blood-feeding and parasitism. (firstpointsoftware.com)
  • By analyzing the metabolic profiles of 14 different lamprey tissues, we show that two groups of metabolites in the buccal gland of lampreys, prostaglandins and the kynurenine pathway metabolites, can be injected into the host fish to assist lamprey blood feeding. (firstpointsoftware.com)
  • Almost all blood-sucking animals are invertebrates, such as fleas, ticks, leeches, and mosquitoes, and lampreys are one of the only a few groups of vertebrate ectoparasites15. (firstpointsoftware.com)
  • The life cycle of all lampreys begins with a freshwater larval phase (also called ammocoetes), in which the larval lampreys live burrowed in the substrate of streams as filter feeders. (firstpointsoftware.com)
  • We identified three hemoglobin switches in the life cycle of the sea lamprey. (biomedcentral.com)
  • In the last stage, the adult lampreys return to freshwater to spawn and die7,13. (firstpointsoftware.com)
  • The classification of hagfish was once the subject of debate: was the hagfish a type of vertebrate that through evolution had lost its vertebrae, most closely related to lampreys (the earlier view), or did the hagfish represent a stage preceding the evolution of the vertebral column, as is the case with lancelets (the alternative view)? (eol.org)
  • Parasitic lampreys usually attach themselves to the body surface of the host through their sucker-like oral disc, rasp a hole in the skin with a tongue-like piston tipped with denticles that form the cutting edges, and suck the blood of the host for days. (firstpointsoftware.com)
  • Lampreys are aquatic, eel-shaped animals. (firstpointsoftware.com)
  • They are the only known living animals that have a skull but no vertebral column , although hagfish do have rudimentary vertebrae. (eol.org)
  • This slime that hagfish excrete has very thin fibers that make it more durable and retentive than the slime excreted by other animals. (eol.org)