A cephalochordate (from Greek: κεφαλή kephalé, "head" and χορδή khordé, "chord") is an animal in the chordate subphylum, Cephalochordata. They are commonly called lancelets. Cephalochordates possess 5 synapomorphies, or primary characteristics, that all chordates have at some point during their larval or adulthood stages. These 5 synapomorphies include a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, endostyle, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail (see chordate for descriptions of each). The fine structure of the cephalochordate notochord is best known for the Bahamas lancelet, Asymmetron lucayanum. Cephalochordates are represented in modern oceans by the Amphioxiformes and are commonly found in warm temperate and tropical seas worldwide. With the presence of a notochord, adult amphioxus are able to swim and tolerate the tides of coastal environments, but they are most likely to be found within the sediment of these communities. Cephalochordates are segmented marine animals that possess elongated bodies containing a notochord that extends the length of the body from head to tail. They are only a few centimeters in length and due to their lack of a mineralized skeleton, their presence in the fossil record is minimal. A few fossils have been found such as the Burgess Shale of British Columbia which contained the fossils of Pikaia, and the Yunnanozoon fossil which also dates back to the Cambrian period. Cephalochordates are thought to have diverged from the rest of the chordate subphylum approximately 700 to 650 million years ago. Phylogeny is based on a combination of studies of extinct and extant species. Morphology The general cephalochordate body plan is considered to be a dorsoventrally flipped version of earlier deuterostomes. Gene-expression studies on embryonic patterning suggest that body axis formation has inverted somewhere between hemichordates and chordates, where the ventral formation of body structures in earlier hemichordates is observed to be dorsal in cephalochordates. Studies have shown that there is a correlation between the branchiomeric muscles of vertebrates with the orobranchial muscles within the pharynx of chordates. The branchiomeric muscles of vertebrates consist of the pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles whereas the orobranchial muscles of chordates consist of the gill and mouth muscles/cavity. These orobranchial muscles begin to develop in the early larval stages of the cephalochordates. The muscles eventually form into the adult hood during metamorphosis. Specific gene expression and neuron pathways suggest the homological connections between vertebrates and the nonvertebral cephalochordates. The Brachyury gene expression of the notochord is just one of the