A segment or unit of the body in aquatic animals that bears gills, or a subdivision of the gill-bearing section.
From Greek 'branchia' (gill) + 'meros' (part or segment). The term applies morphological segmentation principles from embryology to describe repeated gill-bearing units.
Fish develop branchiomeres in sequence during embryonic growth—each one gets its own nerves, blood vessels, and muscles, like assembly-line manufacturing at the cellular level.
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