Define the main characteristics of vertebrates
Answers
As chordates, vertebrates have the same common features: a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. Vertebrates are further differentiated from chordates by their vertebral column, which forms when their notochord develops into the column of bony vertebrae separated by discs.
Answer:
Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, under the phylum Chordata and under the kingdom Animalia. Animals that possess bilateral symmetry can be divided into two groups, protostomes and deuterostomes, based on their patterns of embryonic development. The deuterostomes, whose name translates as “second mouth,” consist of two phyla: Chordata and Echinodermata. Echinoderms are invertebrate marine animals that have pentaradial symmetry and a spiny body covering; the phylum includes sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. The phylum Chordata contains two groups of invertebrate chordates, but the most conspicuous and familiar members of Chordata are the vertebrates.
Phylum chordata: All chordates are deuterostomes, possessing a notochord. Vertebrates are differentiated by having a vertebral column.
As chordates, all vertebrates have a similar anatomy and morphology with the same qualifying characteristics: a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. However, the subphylum Vertebrata is distinguished from the phylum Chordata by the development of the notochord into a bony backbone. Vertebrates include the amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds, as well as the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks, and rays.
Diversity of vertebrates: animals with backbones: The subphylum Vertebrata contains all animals that possess backbones, gills, and a central nervous system in at least one phase of development. Vertebrates include amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds, as well as the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks, and rays.
More than 64,000 species of vertebrates have been described, but the extant vertebrate species represent only a small portion of all the vertebrates that have existed. Vertebrates range in size from the frog species Paedophryne amauensis (as small as 7.7 mm (0.3 inch)) to the blue whale (as large as 33 m (110 ft)). Vertebrates comprise about 4 percent of all described animal species; the remainder are invertebrates, which lack backbones.