The little skate, Leucoraja erinacea, like all skates, rays, and sharks, has a unique gut morphology. The intestine of the skate develops to form a tube with an internal fold that curves to form a spiral-shaped lumen. Early in development at stage 24, the lumen opening inside the developing gut is symmetric, but at stage 25 symmetry is broken and the spiral fold begins to form. The spiral occurs when a dense group of mesenchyme cells creates a bulge in the lumen of the gut marking the initiation of spiral fold formation in the intestine. The spiral fold extends, elongates, and folds into itself, creating a crescent shape and ultimately a full spiral with eight complete turns. In other organisms and tissues, similar breaks in symmetry are initiated by left-right cell signaling pathways, such as Pitx2 which determine tissue patterning. The expression of Pitx2 in the left mesenchyme causes cells to condense on the left side leading the gut to tilt leftward. I hypothesize that Pitx2 expression in the left mesenchyme is necessary to initiate the spiral fold. For my project, I am examining the expression of Pitx2 before and after symmetry is broken as the left side of the spiral intestine condenses. Understanding the role of Pitx2 in left-right patterning in the gut will provide insight into the mechanisms that direct organ morphology.