Focus Story

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

     It has been observed that living below poverty line is quite difficult to cope with the living standard in the locality. However, with the rich natural resources that surrounds them, they discovered a rare fish-like specie. They fondly called it “banusok” in their native tongue.

       Banusok, scientifically called lancelet or amphioxus grows about 0.4 to 3 inches (1 to 8 centimetres) long. These can be found beneath the shallow sand parts of temperate or tropical seas unlike some species. These are so rare for the public never know their existence until a group of fishermen discovered it for their own consumption.

       Later, many folks tried to catch those species as their source of living such as the villagers from Brgy. Kidalapong, Lacaron, and Pangyan. They make several recipes but the most popular one is the “adobo” as appetizer for “banusok” is not only delicious but also rich in iodine, protein, low in fat and is good for people who suffered prostate cancer.

       Now, the villagers are meddling along the streets the famous banusok at 60 pesos per kilo. It some how alleviate their poverty for they are selling like hot cakes. 

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Physical Characteristics

         Lancelets look like a slender fish without eyes. They are about 0.4 to 3 inches (1 to 8 centimetres) long and whitish to creamy yellow, sometimes with a tint of pink. Mucus secreted by cells in their body covering gives lancelet a pearly sheen. V-shaped line on the outside of lancelets’ bodies outline muscle blocks inside the body. Small bristles surround the mouth. A fin runs along the entire back of the animal and extends forward into a short fin over the snout and backward into a tail fin. There is a fin on the belly toward the rear of the animal. Paired fin-like folds in front of the belly fin extend to the front of the lancelet.

         Lancelets have a notochord, which is a flexible rod of cells supporting the body. The rest of the skeleton is made up of small, flexible rods between the gill slits and supporting the mouth bristles. A nerve cord runs along the top of the notochord, and various types of sensing cells are distributed in the body covering, especially the snout. Lancelets have blood vessels but no heart. The chest has about two hundred gill slits that do not open to the outside but empty into a chamber inside the body wall. The chamber empties to the outside through a hole on the belly of the lancelet.             

Taxonomy

         The Cephalochordata is traditionally seen as a sister subphylum to the vertebrates, with which it is grouped together into a clade (sometimes called Notochordata) which in turn is the sister group to the simpler still Urochordata. Newer researches suggest this may not be the case. The Cephalochordata may be the most basal subphylum of the chordates while the sister group of the vertebrates may be the urochordates. Recent molecular studies as cited by Benton (2005), please cephalochordates nearer to vertebrates and most authors regard amphioxus as the closest relative of the Vertebrate on the basis of 10-15 [morphological] features that are not seen in tunicates”.

         Juviniles of lancelet produce asymmetry feature that is, producing no mirror image when cut passing through its longitudinal axis. But when it reaches adult age stage, it can produce symmetry feature thus producing mirror image when dissected vertically on its central longitudinal axis (Benton 2005). 

Nutritional Value

        Lancelets though are widely distributed in coastal areas of the USA, especially in the Southeast Asia, and have been used as food source in other countries (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2008). The only nutritional analysis of lancelets was performed in 1941 on preserved specimens.

       Data on freshly processed lancelets, including a proximate analysis, fatty acid profile, and amino acid profile were very limited. These data are preliminary because of the limited number of samples and time periods of collection, but they are important because no similar data exist for these potential food resources. Moisture composed 88.9% of the sample, protein 9.4%, ash 1.3%, and fat 0.7% (Espejo 1980). Carbohydrates, as estimated by subtraction from the total, are absent. Cholesterol was only 18.3 mg per 100 g sample. Omega-3 fatty acids composed 30% of the total fatty acids or 0.58 g per 100 g sample of whole lancelets. The fatty acid profile reveals some similarities to that of vertebrate fishes as well as to invertebrate shellfish, but also reflects unique nature of lancelets. An uncommon omega-3 fatty acid 22:5 is prevalent in the lancelet profile in addition to 22:6 and 22:5. The fatty acid data also suggest that the diet of lancelet is diverse, consisting of phytoplankton and zooplankton (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2008). The amino acid profile, with glumatic acid, aspartic acid, and glycine as the most common residues, reflects the preponderance of muscle and collagen and the absence of the cartilage and bone (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2008).

Behavior and Reproduction

       Lancelets can swim vigorously forward and backward, but they spend most their time buried halfway in the sand. They live in masses of more than nine thousand animals per square yard (meter). Depending on the coarseness of the sand, lancelets assume different feeding positions. In coarse sand they bury their entire body with only the head exposed to the water. In fine sand they lie on the bottom. Lancelets continuously produce a mucus net that they move over their gill slits to capture food particles in the water. The food particles and mucus net are rolled into a mass that passes into the digestive tract.

         Lancelets have separate sexes. There are equal numbers of males and females in a population. Eggs and sperm are released into the water, where the fertilized eggs, those that have united with sperm, develop into larvae. When twelve to fifteen pairs of gill slits have formed, the larvae sink to the bottom and transform into young lancelets. From that point on the animal grow, and additional gill slits and muscle segments develop while the reproductive organs grow to maturity (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2008).

Lancelets and Vertebrates

        Scientists consider lancelets the closest living relatives to vertebrates, or animals with a backbone. The two groups share traits such as the organization of the main body muscles into separate segments and the organization of the blood vessels. Lancelets also have a structure that is a simple form of the liver of vertebrates. The nerve cord of lancelets has a central canal that is enlarged at the head end, making it similar to parts of the vertebrate brain (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2008).

         Lancelets are usually about 1 in. (2.5 cm) long, with transparent bodies tapered at both ends. These data are preliminary because of the limited number of samples and time periods of collection, but they are important because no similar data exist for the potential food resource. The fatty acids data also suggest that the diet of lancelets is diverse, consisting of phytoplankton and zooplankton (The Columbia Encyclopedia 2008).

Lancelet Cuisines and Recipes:

Tortang “Banusok”

 Ingredients:

o    ½ kilogram of Banusok (Lancelets)

o   2 cups of flour

o   3 pieces of egg (optional)

o   200 grams of cooking oil

o   Pinch of salt

o   Onion

o   Garlic

Procedures:

o   Combine the Banusok, flour, eggs, onion, garlic, salt then mix well.

o   Pre-heat the pan

o   Put the cooking oil. Wait until it becomes hot then  fry the banusok until golden brown

o   Wait until it will be served.

Adobong “Banusok”

    Ingredients:

   o   ½ kg.of Banusok

   o   100 grams of cooking oil

   o   Pinch of salt

   o   Onion

   o   Garlic

   o   Black Pepper (leaves)

Procedures:

o   Pre-heat the pan

o   Put the cooking oil. Wait until it becomes hot.

o   As soon as the cooking pan becomes hot, cook the spices like garlic, onion next the Banusok, then soy sauce, last the salt.

o   Wait until the food is ready to serve. 

 

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