Solenocyte

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

, solenocytes are

flagellate A flagellate is a cell or organism with one or more whip-like appendages called flagella. The word ''flagellate'' also describes a particular construction (or level of organization) characteristic of many prokaryotes and eukaryotes and the ...

d cells associated with

excretion Excretion is a process in which metabolic waste is eliminated from an organism. In vertebrates this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks afte ...

osmoregulation Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's body fluids, detected by osmoreceptors, to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it maintains the fluid balance and the concentration ...

and

ionoregulation Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's body fluids, detected by osmoreceptors, to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it maintains the fluid balance and the concentration o ...

in many animals and in some

chordate A chordate () is an animal of the phylum Chordata (). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five synapomorphies, or primary physical characteristics, that distinguish them from all the other taxa. These five ...

s under the sub-phylum

Cephalochordata A cephalochordate (from Greek: κεφαλή ''kephalé'', "head" and χορδή ''khordé'', "chord") is an animal in the chordate subphylum, Cephalochordata. They are commonly called lancelets. Cephalochordates possess 5 synapomorphies, or prima ...

. These are the cells which form subtypes of

protonephridium The nephridium (plural ''nephridia'') is an invertebrate organ, found in pairs and performing a function similar to the vertebrate kidneys (which originated from the chordate nephridia). Nephridia remove metabolic wastes from an animal's body. Neph ...

along with the other type i.e.

flame cell A flame cell is a specialized excretory cell found in the simplest freshwater invertebrates, including flatworms, rotifers and nemerteans; these are the simplest animals to have a dedicated excretory system. Flame cells function like a kidney, re ...

s. Flame cells can be distinguished from solenocytes as the former is usually

ciliate The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a differen ...

d whereas the latter is flagellated. An example of organisms in which excretion is performed by solenocytic protonephridia is the genus ''

Branchiostoma ''Branchiostoma'' is one of the few living genus, genera of lancelets (order (biology), order Amphioxiformes). It is the type (zoology), type genus of family (biology), family Branchiostomatidae. These small vaguely eel- or snake-like animals a ...

.'' Cell biology {{cell-biology-stub