schizocoelomate, any invertebrate animal that possesses a schizocoel, a coelom (that is, the body cavity lying between the digestive tract and the musculature of the body wall) formed through the splitting of the mesodermal mass, the middle germ layer in embryonic development. The schizocoel is found in many animals, including mollusks and annelid worms. Schizocoelomates are thus embryologically distinct from enterocoelomates (deuterostomes), in which the coelom arises as an outpouching of the enteron, or embryonic gut.