Hatschek's pit

English

Etymology

Named for its discoverer, Berthold Hatschek (1854–1941).

Noun

Hatschek's pit (plural Hatschek's pits)

1. (anatomy) A deep ciliated fossa on the dorsal midline of the buccal cavity in lancelets.
   • 1905, Adam Sedgwick, A Student's Text-book of Zoology‎^[1], page 21:

     If the preoral (Hatschek's) pit be regarded as a gland, it has been suggested by v. Wijhe that it is comparable to the neural gland of the Tunicata, and that the ciliated groove is comparable to the opening of that gland, the dorsal tubercle, the edges of which are frequently drawn out in a manner very similar to the course of the ciliated groove of Amphioxus.

   • 1974, R. L. Holmes, The Pituitary Gland: A Comparative Account‎^[2], page 339:

     […] that most authorities now accept the possibility that Hatschek's pit might be the homologue - in some ancestral form, the precursor - of Rathke's pouch, and so of the adenohypophysis.

   • 2013, David O. Norris, Vertebrate Endocrinology‎^[3], page 151:

     It is known as Hatschek's pit and has been found to react positively to antibodies against substance P, met-enkephalin, cholecystokinin (CCK), mammalian luteinizing hormone (LH), and the enzyme aromatase (P450_aro), which converts certain androgens into estrogens (see Chapter 3).

Synonyms

• (deep ciliated fossa): Hatschek’s groove, preoral pit

Further reading

• Hatschek's pit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia