Branchial hearts are myogenic

Myogenic

Myogenic contraction refers to a contraction initiated by the myocyte cell itself instead of an outside occurrence or stimulus such as nerve innervation.- Unstable Membrane Potentials :...

 accessory pumps found in coleoid cephalopod

Cephalopod

A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...

s that supplement the action of the main, systemic heart. Each consists of a single chamber and they are always paired, being located at the base of the gill

Gill

A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...

s. They pump blood through the gills via the afferent branchial veins. Since they only circulate venous blood

Venous blood

Venous blood is deoxygenated blood in the circulatory system. It runs in the systemic veins from the organs to the heart. Deoxygenated blood is then pumped by the heart to lungs via the pulmonary arteries, one of the few arteries in the body that carries deoxygenated blood .Venous blood is...

, branchial hearts function under predominantly anaerobic

Anaerobic

Anaerobic is a word which literally means without oxygen, as opposed to aerobic.In wastewater treatment the absence of oxygen is indicated as anoxic; and anaerobic is used to indicate the absence of a common electron acceptor such as nitrate, sulfate or oxygen.Anaerobic may refer to:*Anaerobic...

 conditions. Branchial hearts also appear to be involved in hemocyanin

Hemocyanin

Hemocyanins are respiratory proteins in the form of metalloproteins containing two copper atoms that reversibly bind a single oxygen molecule . Oxygenation causes a color change between the colorless Cu deoxygenated form and the blue Cu oxygenated form...

 synthesis.

Each branchial heart is directly connected to a branchial heart appendage or pericardial gland. The action of the branchial hearts is necessary for the production of primary urine

Urine

Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...

 in these appendages via pressure filtration. Branchial hearts may have evolved from the pericardial glands of nautiloid

Nautiloid

Nautiloids are a large and diverse group of marine cephalopods belonging to the subclass Nautiloidea that began in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living Nautilus. Nautiloids flourished during the early Paleozoic era, where they constituted the main predatory animals, and...

s, such as those still found in modern nautilus

Nautilus

Nautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...

es.