COURSE: ANIMAL DIVERSITY II
Phylum Chordata is a large phylum and comprises about 6% of all the animal species. It was
created by Balfour in 1880. This phylum is divided into 4 sub-phyla:
1. Sub-phylum Hemichordata or Adelochordata
2. Sub-phylum Urochordata or Tunicata
3. Sub-phylum Cephalochordata or Acrania
4. Sub-phylum Vertebrata
The first three sub-phyla are often grouped together and are known as lower chordates or
protochordates. All the chordates possess three outstanding unique characters at some stage in their
life history. These three fundamental morphological features include:
i. Notochord
ii. Pharyngeal gill slits
iii. Dorsal hollow nerve cord
1. Notochord: It is also called chorda dorsalis. The notochord is an elongated rod-like flexible
structure extending the length of the body. It is present immediately below the nerve cord and just
above the digestive canal. Structurally it is composed of large vacuolated notochordal cells
containing a gelatinous matrix and surrounded by an outer fibrous and an inner elastic sheath. The
notochord is the prime diagnostic feature of the phylum Chordata which derives its name from it.
Protochordates have a typical notochord. In adult vertebrates, it is surrounded or replaced by the
vertebral column.
Notochord serves the following few features:
i. It provides longitudinal stiffening of the main body axis
ii. It provides a base for muscles
iii. It provides an axis around which the vertebral column develops
2. Perforated pharynx: The anterior part of the alimentary canal, known as pharynx, has a series
of paired openings or perforations on its lateral walls through which the pharyngeal cavity
communicates with the exterior. These openings are formed by the in-pushing or invagination of
the outer ectoderm and out-pushing or evagination of the endodermal lining of the pharynx. The
intervening walls being broken down, thus free channels are formed. All such channels are known
as visceral clefts or pharyngeal clefts. Such visceral clefts are formed during the development of
every chordate but in many aquatic forms, all or some visceral clefts usually modified to provide
a respiratory surface and are then called the gill-clefts. In adult terrestrial forms, the visceral clefts
close and disappear before adult life.
3. Dorsal tubular nerve cord: A dorsal, hollow, fluid-filled nerve cord lies above the notochord.
It has a hollow canal running from one end to the other. Among vertebrates, the nerve cord which
is known as spinal cord lies in the neural canal of the vertebrae and the brain is surrounded by a
bony or cartilaginous cranium or skull.
A Typical Chordate
Sub-phylum Hemichordata
General characters
1. These are exclusively marine worm-like and soft bodied animals
2. Body is divisible in to proboscis, collar and trunk
3. Notochord occurs only in the anterior end of the body. This notochord is also termed as
stomochord
4. Numerous paired gill-slits are present
5. Nervous system has a sub-epidermal plexus (network) of cells and fibres
6. Alimentary canal straight and complete or U-shaped
7. Blood vascular system is simple
8. Some are free living and of burrowing habits. Others sessile and remaining live in
chitinous tubes
9. Sexes separate. Fertilization external larva known as Tornaria larva is present in some
Classification: Sub-phylum Hemichordata is divided in to two classes:
1. Class Enteropneusta: Solitary and burrowing worm-like marine forms commonly known
as “acorn” or “tongue worm”
Examples: Balanoglossus, Saccoglossus
2. Class Pterobranchia: Commonly known as pterobranchs. Sedentary, solitary or colonial
and marine forms. Reproduction by budding
Examples: Cephalodiscus, Rhabdopleura
Saccoglossus Cephalodiscus Rhabdopleura
Sub-phylum Urochordata
General characters
1. Exclusively marine commonly known as sea squirts
2. Solitary or colonial and have wide distribution
3. Fixed or free swimming and pelagic (live in open sea)
4. Body is covered by a protective tunic or test composed largely of tunicine similar to
cellulose, hence the name tunicata
5. Notochord present only in larval stages and hence the name Urochordata. Adults lack the
notochord
6. Respiration through test and gill-slits
7. Heart is ventral, simple and tubular
8. Alimentary canal complete
9. Dorsal tubular nerve cord is present in the larval forms and is absent in adults
10. Mostly hermaphrodite. Asexual reproduction by budding
Classification: This sub-phylum is divided in to three classes:
1. Class Larvacea: Free swimming pelagic forms. Test is temporary. Single pair of gill slits
is present.
Examples: Oikopleura
2. Class Ascidiacea: Members are commonly called ascidians. Fixed or free-swimming
marine forms. Simple or compound, solitary or colonial. Test is permanent and well
developed
Examples: Ascidia
3. Class Thaliacea: Free swimming and pelagic; solitary and colonial. Test is permanent and
transparent, may be slightly or well developed. Life history exhibits alternation of
generation.
Examples: Salpa, Doliolum
Salpa
Oikopleura
Ascidia Doliolum
Sub-phylum Cephalochordata
General characters
1. Marine widely distributed in shallow waters
2. Mostly sedentary and buried with only anterior body end projecting above bottom sand
3. Body small, 5 to 8 cm long, slender, fish-like, metameric and transparent
4. Head lacking. Body has trunk and tail
5. Notochord and nerve cord extend along the entire length of the body and persists
throughout life
6. Digestive system complete. Filter feeders
7. Respiration through general body surface. No special organs for respiration are present
8. Circulatory system well developed, closed and without heart and respiratory pigment
9. Excretory organs are segmental nephridia similar to those of annelids
10. There is a definite coelom
11. Nerve cord dorsal, tubular and without ganglia and brain
12. Sexes separate. No asexual reproduction
13. Fertilization external in sea water
Classification: There is only one class of this sub-phylum:
Class Leptocardii
Examples: Branchiostoma or Amphioxus
