Balanoglossus in Mashail Island described it as a worm-like holothurian. The discovery of gill-slits in this animal by Kowalewsky (1865) led to creation of a special class Enteropneusta by Gegenbaur (1870). Bateson (1885) included them in Phylum Chordata. Hyman (1959), however, placed them near Echinodermata and gave Hemichordata a status of an independent phylum. This simple organism shows affinities with several diverse groups. Balanoglossus is a tuberculos or burrowing and exclusively marine animal. It is found in shallow waters between tide marks along the coast of warm and temperate oceans. Balanoglossus clavigerus is a U-shaped excavated in a sandy bottom Nemertines
Bacterial phyla Despite these lineages not being officially recognised (due to the ever-increasing number of sequences belonging to undescribed phyla) the ARB-Silva database lists 67 phyla, including 37 candidate phyla (Acetothermia, Aerophobetes, Aminicenantes, aquifer1, aquifer2, Atribacteria, Calescamantes, CKC4, Cloacimonetes, GAL08, GOUTA4, Gracilibacteria, Fermentibacteria (Hyd24-12), Hydrogenedentes, JL-ETNP-Z39, Kazan-3B-09, Latescibacteria, LCP-89, LD1-PA38, Marinimicrobia, Microgenomates, OC31, Omnitrophica, Parcubacteria, PAUC34f, RsaHF231, S2R-29, Saccharibacteria, SBYG-2791, SHA-109, SM2F11, SR1, TA06, TM6, WCHB1-60, WD272, and WS6), the Ribosomal Database Project 10, lists 49 phyla, including 20 candidate phyla (Acetothermia, Aminicenantes, Atribacteria, BRC1, Calescamantes, Cloacimonetes, Hydrogenedentes, Ignavibacteriae, Latescibacteria, Marinimicrobia, Microgenomates, Nitrospinae, Omnitrophica, Parcubacteria, Poribacteria, SR1, Saccharibacteria, WPS-1, WPS-2, and ZB3),