[Origin of the coelomic cavities and the heart in the polypterids (Pisces)]

In polypterus the mesodermal cavities appear quite late during embryonic life. They are generally small and they only get somewhat more voluminous in the anterior mesomeres (where they establish the pronephrie chambers) and in the ventral anterior mesoderm (where they become an embryonic pericardial cavity). The anlage of the heart appears in the anterior part of the tissue that is situated between the paired mesodermal cavities of these stages. It assumes some unawaited dispositions that are truly confusing in the case of a superficial inspection. It is only during larval life that a coelomic cavity appears all along the truncal part of the mesoderm. In the beginning this is a pericardio-peritoneal cavity. But because of the coalescence between several membranes an anterior cavity gets isolated and this one is the pericardial cavity of the adult specimens; this cavity is much more limited than its homonymic counterpart of the embryonic stages.