The role of the hyaline spheres in sea cucumber metamorphosis: lipid storage via transport cells in the blastocoel.

The HS in A. mollis functions as a nutrient storage structure that separates lipid stores from the major morphogenic events that occur during the metamorphic transition from auricularia-doliolaria-pentactula (settled juvenile). The discovery of LTC within the blastocoel of sea cucumbers has implications for other invertebrate larvae with a gel-filled blastocoel and for our understanding of lipid use during metamorphosis in marine invertebrates.