In the tribe of Pectinibranchia called Heteropoda the foot takes the form of a swimming organ.
The odontophore also is remarkably developed, its lateral teeth being mobile, and it serves as an efficient organ for attacking the other pelagic forms on which the Heteropoda prey.
The Heteropoda exhibit a series of modifications in the form and proportions of the visceral mass and foot, leading from a condition readily comparable with that of a typical Pectinibranch such as Rostellaria, with the three regions of the foot strongly marked and a coiled visceral hump of the usual proportions, up to a condition in which the whole body is of a tapering cylindrical shape, the foot a plate-like vertical fin, and the visceral hump almost completely atrophied.
Spengel has shown that the visceral loop of the Heteropoda is streptoneurous.
The Heteropoda are further remarkable for the high development of their cephalic eyes, and for the typical character of their osphradium (Spengel's olfactory organ).