In animals at least as complex as an
earthworm, the
embryo forms a dent on one side, the
blastopore, which deepens to become the
archenteron, the first phase in the growth of the
gut. In deuterostomes, the original dent becomes the anus while the gut eventually tunnels through to make another opening, which forms the mouth. The protostomes were so named because it was thought that in their embryos the dent formed the mouth first (
proto– meaning "first") and the anus was formed later at the opening made by the other end of the gut. Research from 2001 shows the edges of the dent close up in the middles of protosomes, leaving openings at the ends which become the mouths and anuses. ==See also==