Phylum Chordata

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.
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.

4.

5.
6.

7.

Three Basic Features

1.

2.

3.

Dorsal longitudinal notochord

This is a stiff, elastic rod which runs along
the back. 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

These open through the sides of the pharynx,

or cavity between the mouth and the opening
to the digestive tract. A continuous channel
extends from the mouth to the pharynx to the
exterior.
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
Tube found on the dorsal side that runs
parallel to the notochord and gut
Anterior end enlarges during development to
form brain

Chordates 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
Tail is also present, which extends past the
anal opening. 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.
Skeletal System
These animals have well-developed skeleton
composed of bone, cartilage, or a combination of bone
and cartilage.
Digestive System
The digestive tube is the complete type where both
mouth and anus are present at opposite ends of the
tube.
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.
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

Other Characteristics of the Chordates

1.

2.

3.

In general, the body is markedly differentiated into

head, trunk, tail, and appendages. A neck may be
found in many vertebrates
Bilaterally symmetrical
Chordates have bilateral symmetry in which
the body may be cut into identical left and
right halve. Bilateral symmetry adapts the
animal to move towards a direction, and their
anterior end becomes specialized in sensory
function.
Coelomatic

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
METAMORPHOSIS
- Tunicates tadpole mature extremely quick (6 to 36
hours)
- Involves the loss of the notochord, nerve cord,
and tail, and a twisting of the body so that the
mouth and the anus both point away from the
attachment.
- the tunicate even digests its own brain
Larval tunicate (tadpole)

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.

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.
Sensory organs
o Eyespot - primitive eye than can sense
changes in light intensity and direction

Otolith - which helps the animal orient to

the pull of gravity; sensitive to linear
acceleration and the pull of gravity these
functions are performed by a specialized
inner ear in higher chordates

Other characteristics of an adult tunicate

Body Structure
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.
Subdivision
o upper region (pharyngeal)
- pharynx
o lower region (abdominal)
- Digestive, reproductive organs &
rudimentary heart
Two openings (siphon)
o Incurrent (mouth)
o Excurrent
Reproduction
Hermaphrodites or monoecious (produce both eggs
and sperm)

Ovary and testes open to the outside via gonoducts

that open via gonopores in the atrium. The region of
the atrium containing the gonopores and the anus is
called the cloaca
They eject egg and sperm through the excurrent
siphon
External fertilization (releasing eggs and sperm into
the water)

brood the fertilized eggs in the pharyngeal basket

(internal fertilzation)

undergo asexual reproduction by budding

Digestive
Filter feeders
Plankton feeders
Circulatory System
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.
Respiration
no respiratory pigments

gas exchange occurs between the water and the blood

in vessels located in the pharyngeal basket

Muscular
circular and longitudinal muscles found in the body
wall
Excretory
No special excretory organs appear to be present.
Nitrogenous waste is excreted as ammonia

elimination primarily by diffusion

blood is isotonic to seawater

Predators
Snails, crustaceans and eels along with some species
of larger fish

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.

II. SUBPHYLUM CEPHALOCHORDATA

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

The amphioxus is small, superficially fish-like that

usually burrows in sand of shallow shore waters, with
only thin anterior end protruding. At times, it can also
swim. The amphioxus shows three distinctive chordate

features in simple forms; dorsal nerve cord, notochord,

pharyngeal gill slits.
Lying in the median plane are the long dorsal fin, a
short ventral fin and a caudal fin around the tail end.
The body is flattened ventrally with a pair with a pair
of long fin-like metapleural folds along each side
anterior to the ventral fin.
The external body openings are the ventral mouth at
the anterior end, anus near the base of the tail fin and
the atriopore anterior to the ventral fin.
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.
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.
Lying dorsal to certain gill bars and opening into the
atrium, the nephridia connect to coelom to the atrium.

Muscular systems
Longitudinal muscle fibers of the body wall are
arranged in segmental V-shaped blocks or myomeres.
These muscles are separates from one another by thin
connective tissue septa (myosepta).
Integumentary and skeletal systems

notochord acts as a support structure for both the oral

hood and provides a rigid structure for muscles to
work against
notochord is retained in adult
body wall not covered by a test or with scales

Nervous systems
hollow nerve cord is dorsal of the notochord
no cephalization
segmental nerves
an eyespot at anterior end
Digestive systems
buccal cavity, where the mouth is located
finger-like structures, collectively called the wheel
organ, are in the pharynx; attached cilia beat to create
a current
pharynx has a series of parallel gill bars, through
which water passes; food is trapped in the mucus,
produced by the endostyle
trapped food and mucus passes dorsally up to the
epibranchial groove, and thus intestine, hepatic cecum,
and anus
water leaves out through the atriophore
Circulatory systems
no blood cells or respiratory pigments
closed circulatory system
no distinct heart but a simple sinus venosus.
Circulation of blood in dorsal and ventral aortae is also
like in vertebrates
Respiratory

Gas exchange may occur in the pharynx but the skin is

primarily the respiratory surface.
gas exchange occurs via diffusion, especially at the
gill bar epithelium
no blood cells or respiratory pigments

Excretory systems
nitrogenous wastes eliminated via protonephridia
analagous to the protonephridia of flatworms and
primitive annel
Excretory organs are segmentally arranged ciliated
protonephridia of the solenocyte type (modified flame
cell).
Nervous system
Consist of a tubular nerve cord dorsal to the notochord
and paired segmental nerves with ventral and dorsal
roots extending into the tissues.
Reproductive systems

dioecious (sexes are separate)

Fertilization and development are external.

Numerous gonads about 25 pairs bulge into the atrium.
The body is elongated, laterally compressed and
tapering at both ends.

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.
Subphylum Vertebrata
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.

Class Agnatha
Class Chondrichthyes
Class Osteichthyes
Class Amphibia
Class Reptilia
Class Aves
Class Mammalia

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

1. Their digestive system is complete. Esophagi are short
and stomachs usually J-shaped.
2. Circulation is accomplished by two-chambered heart
through which the blood flows only once per circuit.
3. Respiration is by gills. Slits in the pharynx bear thin
vascular filaments or gills.
4. Most endocrine glands are present; however, in
lampreys the pancreas is missing
5. Parathyroid gland is lacking in all fish.
6. Most fish have frog-type kidneys, although in
lampreys the kidneys are more primitive.
7. Sexes are usually separated. Fish can be oviparous or
sometimes ovoviparous.

i. Class Agnatha
Jawless fish
Examples: lamprey eels and hagfish

Characteristics
1. These primitive fish have unpaired fish, no scales,
and round, sucker-like mouths that are equipped
with horny ridges for tearing flesh.
2. Most were probably filter feeders, straining food
material from mud and water flowing through
their gill system
3. The notochord forms the center of vertebrae.
4. 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
1. These animals do not have a true bony skeleton.
Their skeletons are made of cartilage, a frim,
flexible substance.
2. They are covered with placoid scales.
3. Pectoral and Pelvic (ventral) fins are paired.
Tail, dorsal, and anal fins are not paired.
4. The anal fin, near the opening of the digestive
tract, is either lacking or modified to transfer
sperm.
5. Their forward speed is controlled by the tail.
The pectoral fins usually control direction of
movement while dorsal and anal fins stabilize
movement.
6. Caudal fin is heterocercal
7. They have no true ribs, lung, an air bladder, or
true gill cover.
8. 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.
9. Sensory pits along the side forming the lateral
line
10. With Ampullae of Lorenzinii which are
electroreceptors that detect low level electrical
fields produced by the prey
11. With 5 pair of unprotected gill slits (not covered
by operculum)
12. Dioecios and sexually dimorphic
13. With internal fertilization involving copulation
iii. Class Osteichthyes
Jawed fish
Bony fish
Examples: flounder, perch, grouper, redfish, tuna etc.
Characteristics

1.
2.
3.

4.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

They have bone skeletons and 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
Gill slits covered by operculum
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)
Integumentary system
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
Skeletal system
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.

Circulatory system
Heart is four-chambered
Two loop circulatory system

Integumentary system
The kin is covered with hard, dry scales formed from
an insoluble protein called keratin.

Excretory system
Ammonia is removed by the kidneys, converted to
high concentration uric acid and defecated (bird
droppings

Skeletal system
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.

v. Class Amphibia
They are amphibious.
Amphibians are cold-blooded or exothermic animals.

Digestive system
Most are carnivorous
All reptiles except turtles have sharp teeth

Integumentary system
They have moist skin
Skeletal system
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)
Respiratory system
They breathe with lungs and gills
Reproduction system
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.
Circulatory System
Three-chambered heart.
The mouth is usually large with small teeth in upper or
both jaws; two nostrils open into the anterior part of
the mouth cavity.
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

Respiratory system
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.
Circulatory system
All reptiles have three-chambered hearts, except
crocodiles, which have four-chambered hearts. And
they have twelve pairs of cranial nerve.
Reproduction system
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
Nervous system
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
Integumentary system

They possess hair which is made of keratin. Hair

provides insulation.

Skeletal system
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.
Digestive System
Mammals are heterodontic, meaning that their teeth
are different shapes
Respiratory System
All mammals breathe with lungs.
All mammals have a diaphragm, which aids in
breathing.
Circulatory system
Double-loop circulatory system
Four-chambered heart
Mammalian circulatory system
metabolic waste

also

removes

Excretory system
Kidneys are organs that remove cellular wastes and
regulate the water balance in the body.
Reproductive system
Most are viviparous though some are oviparous. An
extended gestation period uterine development is
common in most placental mammals.
Nervous system
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.

Monotremes
Egg-laying mammals
The duckbills and spiny anteaters are the only
types belonging to this group. The eggs are
laid and incubated outside the mothers body.
Marsupials
Pouched mammals
Koala bear, Wombat, Kangaroo and Opossum
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.
Placental mammals
During the pregnancy the females develop a
special organ called the placenta. Part of the
placenta is formed from the outer
membranous sac around the embryo and part
of it comes from the mucosa of the uterus.
This organ passes nourishment from the
mothers body to the fetus, or embryo, which
is attached to the placenta by an umbilical
cord. Thus, 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