Coelom Metamerism in Echinodermata

Abstract Within all major taxa of Bilateria, there are forms with coelomic metamerism. This suggests that coelomic metamerism was characteristic of the common ancestor of Bilateria. Among deuterostomes, metamerism is clearly expressed in chordates, and elements of metamerism are present in hemichordates. Do echinoderms have remnants of coelomic metamerism that was inherited from the common ancestor of Bilateria? The coelomic system of echinoderms includes several metameric coelomic rings located along the oral-aboral axis, namely: the axocoelomic ring, the hydrocoelomic ring, 2 to 6 coelomic rings originating from the left somatocoel, and one epigastric ring originating from the right somatocoel. Thus, in echinoderms, there is a dissymmetrical metamerism, derived from the original metamerism of the common ancestors of Deuterostomia and, possibly, the common ancestors of Bilateria. The problem of dexiothetism as the cause for the formation of coelomic dissymmetry in echinoderms is discussed.