Nephrocyte
Nephrocyte
the parenchymal and connective-tissue cells that have an excretory function in a number of invertebrates, such as turbellarians. Nephrocytes become loaded with excretions and then transport them out of the body. As the excretory apparatus developed over the course of evolution, the nephrocytes became concentrated in certain parts of the body, for example, in the walls of the nephridia, on the surface of the blood vessels in annelids, or in the pericardial cavity in mollusks.