Phylum Chordata

Skeletal System
- These animals have well-developed skeleton
composed of bone, cartilage, or a combination of bone
and cartilage.

The chordates comprise the highest group in the

animal kingdom. They are animals from varying habitats. The
chordate derives its name from a common feature of the group,
the notochord. Notochord is derived from the Greek words
noton and chorda, meaning back cord.

Digestive System
- The digestive tube is the complete type where both
mouth and anus are present at opposite ends of the
tube.

Chordates develop certain structures that give them

some advantages over other animals. They are the presence of
the endoskeleton, method of breathing where an efficient
respiratory system goes with well-developed circulatory
system, and the advanced of highly efficient tubular nervous
system that goes with better sensory organs.

Excretory System
- The main excretory organ of chordates is the kidneys.
The kidneys evolved in aquatic ancestors as organs for
eliminating excess water and simultaneously removing
soluble wastes from the body.

Three Basic Features

1.

2.

3.

Dorsal longitudinal notochord

It allows the animal to bend from side to side
and keeps the body from folding. Many of the
large chordates develop a stronger backbone
from the notochord.
Pharyngeal slits
Among aquatic animals, the gill slits are used
for breathing throughout adult life. However,
in air-breathing animals, the gills appear only
in the embryo. As the animal develops, lung
pouch out from the pharynx and replace the
gills as a means of breathing
Single dorsal nerve cord
Anterior end enlarges during development to
form brain

Other Characteristics of the Chordates

1.

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.

In general, the body is markedly differentiated into

head, trunk, tail, and appendages. A neck may be
found in many vertebrates
Bilaterally symmetrical
Coelomatic - they have true coelom lined with the
mesoderm termed peritoneum.
Deuterostomic - Chordates are non-spiral cleavage
animals of an enterocoelous body cavity. The anus
arises from the blastopore of the embryo and the
mouth develops from a new opening.
Triploblastic
Post-anal Tail - In most species these features
disappear with age.
Organ Systems
Integumentary System
- Lower chordates have a single layer of epidermal
cells which secretes a slimy substance for
protection. The vertebrate integument is
considered as a true integument. It is composed of
two principal layers: an outer epidermis and an
inner dermis or cutis.

Respiratory System
- Chordates take in oxygen and gets rid carbon dioxide
through the organs like gills, lungs or body surfaces.
Circulatory System
- They have a well-developed close circulatory system.
Reproductive System
- Reproduction is sexual and each individual has a pair
of reproductive organs

Invertebrate vs Vertebrate
The main difference between vertebrates and
invertebrates is that invertebrates do not have a
backbone or a spinal column
Urochordata and Cephalochordata are considered as
non-vertebrate chordates.
Craniata vs Acraniata

The acraniata are lower chordates without cranium,

jaws, vertebrates or paired appendages.
The craniata are vertebrates with cranium, visceral or
gill arches, vertebrates and brain.
Urochordata and Cephalochordata are considered as
non-vertebrate chordates.

I. SUBPHYLUM UROCHORDATA (tunicates)

They are commonly called sea squirt
Marine animals
They can be solitary or colonial
Larval tunicate

They swim freely

Notochord
- persists only in the tail of the larva
Nerve cord
- forms the central nervous system
- front end of the nerve cord is expanded to
form a cerebral vesicle
Slits in the beginning of the digestive tract (the
pharynx) allow filter feeding and gas exchange
Digestive system
- They have no mouth therefore they do not eat
- both ends of its digestive tract are covered by
a skin-like tissue called the tunic.
Their sole job is to find a suitable place to live out
their lives as adults
When ready to settle, a sticky secretion (slime) helps
them attach head first to the spot they have chosen.
They then reabsorb all the structures within their tail
and recycle them to build new structures needed for
their adult way of life.

Tunicates do not have blood vessels and the blood

merely sloshes around in large sinuses and spaces
within the body tissue. They have a high enough ratio
of surface area to body volume to rely on the diffusion
of carbon dioxide and oxygen through the skin for
respiration.

no respiratory pigments
gas exchange occurs between the water and the blood
in vessels located in the pharyngeal basket
circular and longitudinal muscles found in the body
wall
No special excretory organs appear to be present.
Nitrogenous waste is excreted as ammonia

elimination primarily by diffusion

II. SUBPHYLUM CEPHALOCHORDATA

Adult tunicate
Sessile - anchored to the ocean floor by small root-like
processes called villi
Filter feeder filter food particles from the water by
pumping water in one siphon and out the other; it uses
gill slits
no notochord, nerve cord, or tail
Cerebral Vesicle equivalent to a vertebrate's brain.
Other characteristics of an adult tunicate
The body is covered by tunic (gelatinous or leathery
protective test made from cellulose)

Sea squirts are normally cylindrical in shape, but can

also be round or even bell-shaped.
Two openings (siphon)
o Incurrent (mouth)
o Excurrent
Near the upper surface are two openings; the
upper incurrent siphon leading into a large
pharynx and an excurrent siphon opening into the
atrium. Many gill slits bordered by long cilia
perforated the pharyngeal wall (branchial sac).
These slits open into the atrium. Water drawn into
the incurrent siphon brings minute organisms for
food and oxygen for respiration; then it passes out
the excurrent siphon removing wastes and sex
cells. From the pharynx, the short esophagus
curves to end at the anus into the atrium below the
excurrent siphon.

Hermaphrodites or monoecious (produce both eggs

and sperm)

Filter feeders (Plankton feeders)

Cephalochordata comes from the Greek word

kephale meaning head, and khorde meaning
chord.
This
is
represented
by
the
Amphioxus
(Brachiostomalanceolata).
There are about more or less 20 species.
They are popularly called lancelets due to their shape
(pointed at both sides).
Notochord and nerve cord persist along the entire
body
Gill slits also persist
Head is absent and the slender fish-like bony is
segmented
Longitudinal muscle fibers of the body wall are
arranged in segmental V-shaped blocks or myomeres.
These muscles are separated from one another by thin
connective tissue septa (myosepta).
Behind and slightly below the anterior end or rostum
is the oral hood bearing fleshly buccal cirri that strain
out particles.
The mouth perforates a membrane, the velum. The
mouth lies deep within the vestibule (chamber)
enclosed by the oral hood.
Twelve velar tentacles surround the mouth and serve
to exclude larger particles. Several ciliated bars from
the wheel organ that produces the rotating effect to
propel water currents.
Sensory structures are found in the cirri, tentacles and
within the oral hood.
Internally, the mouth leads to a large compressed
pharynx with many gill slits. Gill bars supported by
delicate skeleton bar lie between the gill slits. After the
pharynx, is a short esophagus, a midgut and finally an
intestine which extends posteriorly to the anus.

The hepatic caecum or sac-like liver which secretes

digestive fluids is found on the ventral side of the
intestine.
Most of the cells of the midgut, caecum and intestine
are ciliated. The pharynx is suspended dorsally
beneath the notochord and hangs freely in the atrium
within the muscles. The pharynx contains furrows;
mid-dorsal hyperbranchial groove and the midventral
endostyle.
Water with minute organisms is drawn by ciliary
action into the mouth.
Food is entrapped within the pharynx by mucus
secreted by the endostyle, while water passes between
the gill bars of the atrium and escape to the outside
through the atriopore. Gas exchange may occur in the
pharynx but the skin is primarily the respiratory
surface.
Circulatory system is similar to that of the higher
chordates but lacks heart.
Excretory organs are segmentally arranged ciliated
protonephridia of the solenocyte type (modified flame
cell). Lying dorsal to certain gill bars and opening into
the atrium, the nephridia connect to coelom to the
atrium.
The nervous system consists of a tubular nerve cord
dorsal to the notochord and paired segmental nerves
with ventral and dorsal roots extending into the
tissues.
Sexes are separate.
Numerous gonads about 25 pairs bulge into the atrium.
Fertilization and development are external.

III. SUBPHYLUM VERTEBRATA

This is the largest subphylum with the more wellknown animals. The notochord is developed at an early age,
and is replaced with vertebrae. All vertebrates have skeleton of
either bone or cartilage. Their brain is protected by a bony
cranium, and consists of three parts. They all have welldeveloped hearts with 2-4 chambers and have a closed
circulatory system.
Pisces

Pisces means fish.

It is the former class of vertebrates that includes all
of the fishes.
Among vertebrates there are three classes of fish.
One class includes jawless fish (Class Agnatha) and
the two other classes are made up of jawed fish
(Class Chondrichthyes and Class Osteichthyes).

Common Characteristics of the Three Classes of Fish

Their digestive system is complete. Esophagi are
short and stomachs usually J-shaped.

Circulation is accomplished by two-chambered

heart through which the blood flows only once per
circuit.
Respiration is by gills. Slits in the pharynx bear
thin vascular filaments or gills.
Most endocrine glands are present; however, in
lampreys the pancreas is missing
Parathyroid gland is lacking in all fish.
Most fish have frog-type kidneys, although in
lampreys the kidneys are more primitive.
Sexes are usually separated. Fish can be oviparous
or sometimes ovoviparous.

i. Class Agnatha
Jawless fish
Examples: lamprey eels and hagfish
Characteristics
These primitive fish have unpaired fish, no scales,
and round, sucker-like mouths that are equipped
with horny ridges for tearing flesh.
Most were probably filter feeders, straining food
material from mud and water flowing through
their gill system
The notochord forms the center of vertebrae.
They feed by attaching themselves by their sucker
to fishes, rasping a hole in the skin of the prey and
sucking blood and other body fluids. The
lampreys have a larval filter-feeding stage that
strikingly resembles amphioxus.
ii. Class Chondrichthyes
Jawed fish
Cartilaginous fishes
Examples: shark, skates and rays
Characteristics
They are covered with placoid scales.
Pectoral and Pelvic (ventral) fins are paired.
Tail, dorsal, and anal fins are not paired.
The anal fin, near the opening of the digestive
tract, is either lacking or modified to transfer
sperm.
Their forward speed is controlled by the tail.
The pectoral fins usually control direction of
movement while dorsal and anal fins stabilize
movement.
Caudal fin is heterocercal
They have no true ribs, lung, an air bladder, or
true gill cover.
With true teeth which are composed of calcium
and which are grown in rows throughout the life
of the shark and which are periodically shed.

Sensory pits along the side forming the lateral

line
With Ampullae of Lorenzinii which are
electroreceptors that detect low level electrical
fields produced by the prey
With 5 pair of unprotected gill slits (not covered
by operculum)
Dioecios and sexually dimorphic
With internal fertilization involving copulation

iii. Class Osteichthyes

Jawed fish
Bony fish
Examples: flounder, perch, grouper, redfish, tuna etc.
Characteristics
with paired fins
The scales of bony fish, called ganoid scales.
Bony fish have fins similar to those of
cartilaginous fish, but they are transparent and
supported by bony rays that may be soft or stiff
and spiny. Many species in this class have fins
that have been modified in shape and position.
Their forward speed is controlled by the tail.
The pectoral fins usually control direction of
movement while dorsal and anal fins stabilize
movement.
They have swim bladder which provides
buoyancy and gill covering called opercula.
With true teeth composed of calcium
With ctenoid, cycloid, or ganoid scales
Caudal fin is homocercal or diphycercal
Mouth is anteriorly or terminally located
Notochord replaced in the embryo by vertebrae
composed of bone
Dioecious or protandric
With internal or external fertilization
iv. Class Aves
Aves means birds.
It is the class of animals that have backbones and
feathers
Birds also have wings, and most of them can fly (e.g.
penguin)
Thin skin (epidermis and dermis) is covered with
feathers
Feathers protect their body, keep them warm, and help
them to fly.
Two types of feathers
1. Contour feather - provide the lifting
force and balance needed for flight
2. Down feather - trap air close to the body
and keep the bird warm
Power Dow - found on ducks and
other birds that live on or in water;

release a fine powder that repels

water
Oil gland (preen gland) is the only gland in the skin.
- Found at the base of the tail
- Oil keeps the feathers from absorbing water
Bones are light weight but strong due to the
arrangement of bony struts and open airspaces. The
strength comes from calcium, which is concentrated
around the outside of the bone.
With two pairs of limbs

anterior pair - modified as wings

posterior limbs - modified for perching,
walking or swimming
With beak instead of lips; they have no teeth
Have large eyes in comparison to the size of the head.
Heart is four-chambered
Two loop circulatory system
Ammonia is removed by the kidneys, converted to
high concentration uric acid and defecated (bird
droppings

v. Class Amphibia
They are amphibious.
Amphibians are cold-blooded or exothermic animals.
They have moist skin
A bone endoskeleton with varying numbers of
vertebrae; ribs present in some, absent or fused to
vertebrae in others.
They have four legs (sometimes none)
They breathe with lungs and gills
Eggs are usually laid in water or in a moist
environment and fertilized externally.
Larvae develop in water or very moist environments
and undergo complete metamorphosis.
Three-chambered heart.
Ten pairs of cranial nerve are present.
iv. Class Reptilia
Class reptilian includes more than 7, 000 known
species living today
These present-day reptiles belong to the same group
that once included dinosaurs, pterodactyls and other
prehistoric reptiles.
There are five groups of living reptiles: turtles, snakes,
lizards, the New Zealand tuatara (Sphenodon) and the
crocodiles, which include alligator and caymans.
The most abundant group are snakes and lizards.
Most reptiles live on land, although some, such as
crocodiles, alligator and some turtles, still spend much
of their lives in water.
They are cold-blooded animals
The kin is covered with hard, dry scales formed from
an insoluble protein called keratin.
All except snakes and few lizards have two pairs of
legs.
All reptiles have spinal columns and a strong skeletal
system with a rib cage.

Most are carnivorous

All reptiles except turtles have sharp teeth
The embryos of reptiles have fish-like gill openings.
But these embryonic gills are never used for breathing,
since baby reptiles also develop lungs. When they are
born or hatched, they breathe air.
Most of them have two lungs, except some snakes.
All reptiles have three-chambered hearts, except
crocodiles, which have four-chambered hearts. And
they have twelve pairs of cranial nerve.
Some snakes and lizards are ovoviviparous that is,
the young are born after hatching from their eggs
within the mothers body.
There is no metamorphosis, as in the case of
amphibians.
Internal fertilization
They have a well-developed brain and a central
nervous system.
Lateral sense organs are absent.

vii. Class Mammalia

All female mammals feed their young with their own
milk.
Most of the largest and best-known animals in the
world are mammals.
Most of them live on land. However, a few, like the
sea cow and the WALRUS, live in the ocean.
The smallest mammal is the tiny shrew. While the
largest is the blue whale
Although most land mammals move by jumping.
Running or walking on land, the bat is able to fly.
Some, like the DUCKBILL, even lay eggs.
All mammals are warm-blooded or endothermic
They possess hair which is made of keratin. Hair
provides insulation.
Seven cervical vertebrae (neck bones) are present in
most mammals
The lower jaw in mammals is a single bone on either
side. In all other vertebrates there are more than one
bone on each side of the jaw
They have 3 middle ear bones that helps give them
good hearing.
Mammals are heterodontic, meaning that their teeth
are different shapes
All mammals breathe with lungs.
All mammals have a diaphragm, which aids in
breathing.
Double-loop circulatory system

Four-chambered heart
Mammalian circulatory system also removes
metabolic waste
Kidneys are organs that remove cellular wastes and
regulate the water balance in the body.
Most are viviparous though some are oviparous. An
extended gestation period uterine development is
common in most placental mammals.
They have a large size of the brain.

Mammals have been divided into three main groups,

according to the way the young mammals are born and
nursed.
1 Monotremes
Egg-laying mammals
The eggs are laid and incubated outside the
mothers body
duckbills and spiny anteaters
2 Marsupials
Pouched mammals
The young are born in a partly-developed
state and they find their way into a large
pouch on the belly of the female. They attach
themselves to nipples inside the pouch and
remain until they are more mature.
Koala bear, Wombat, Kangaroo and Opossum
3 Placental mammals
During the pregnancy the females develop a
special organ called the placenta.
The young develop inside the body of the
mother.
Vertebrates have developed structural modifications to adapt to
terrestrial life. These are:
1 Skin where the outer layer is cornified as a protection
from drying out
2 Eggs provided with tough porous shell, large yolk and
special sacs and membranes as a protection against
drying out and mechanical injury
3 Breathing organs such as the lungs developed deeper
in the body to protect from drying action of the air.
4 Corresponding changes in circulation with the
development of lungs such as two circulations
5 Jointed appendages developed for locomotion
6 Better sensory organs
7 Excretory organs modified to eliminate nitrogenous
wastes in the form of urea or uric acid to conserve
water