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Final draft for Lamprey Article

The internal anatomy of the lamprey contains various components. Some of these organs include a heart, brain, and intestines.

One of the key physical components to the lamprey are the intestines, which are located ventral to the notochord. Intestines aid in osmoregulation by intaking water from its environment and desalinating the water they intake to an iso-osmotic state with respect to blood, and are also responsible for digestion.

The buccal cavity, anterior to the gonads, are responsible to attaching, through suction, to either a stone or their prey. This then allows the tongue to be able to have contact with the stone to rasp algae, or tear at the flesh of their prey to be able to drink their blood.

The heart of the lamprey is anterior to the intestines. It contains the sinus, one atrium, and one ventricle protected by the pericardial cartilages.

The brain is divided into the forebrain, diencephalon, midbrain, cerebellum, and medulla.

The pineal gland, a photosensitive organ regulating melatonin production by capturing light signals through the photoreceptor cell converting them into intercellular signals of the lamprey is located in the midline of its body, for lamprey, the pineal eye is accompanied by the parapineal organ.