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Reptiles 1

Animalia are a major group of multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are motile, heterotrophic, and have bodies that become fixed in form after development. Chordata are an animal phylum that includes vertebrates and have three key morphological features - a notochord, nerve cord, and visceral arches and clefts. The notochord is a rod-like skeletal structure below the nerve cord that provides structure and promotes development. The nerve cord develops above the notochord into the brain and spinal cord.

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42 views1 page

Reptiles 1

Animalia are a major group of multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are motile, heterotrophic, and have bodies that become fixed in form after development. Chordata are an animal phylum that includes vertebrates and have three key morphological features - a notochord, nerve cord, and visceral arches and clefts. The notochord is a rod-like skeletal structure below the nerve cord that provides structure and promotes development. The nerve cord develops above the notochord into the brain and spinal cord.

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dddad
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Animalia

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa.
Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process
of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously
and independently. All animals are also heterotrophs, meaning they must ingest other organisms or their
products for sustenance.

Chordata
The Phylum Chordata includes the well-known vertebrates (fishes, amphibians, reptiles,
birds, mammals). The vertebrates and hagfishes together comprise the taxon Craniata. The
remaining chordates are the tunicates (Urochordata), lancelets (Cephalochordata), and,
possibly, some odd extinct groups. With few exceptions, chordates are active animals with
bilaterally symmetric bodies that are longitudinally differentiated into head, trunk and tail.
The most distinctive morphological features of chordates are the notochord, nerve cord, and
visceral clefts and arches.
The notochord is an elongate, rod-like, skeletal structure dorsal to the gut tube and ventral
to the nerve cord. The notochord should not be confused with the backbone or vertebral
column of most adult vertebrates. The notochord appears early in embryogeny and plays an
important role in promoting or organizing the embryonic development of nearby structures.
In most adult chordates the notochord disappears or becomes highly modified. In some
non-vertebrate chordates and fishes the notochord persists as a laterally flexible but
incompressible skeletal rod that prevents telescopic collapse of the body during swimming.
The nerve cord of chordates develops dorsally in the body as a hollow tube above the
notochord. In most species it differentiates in embryogeny into the brain anteriorly and
spinal cord that runs through the trunk and tail. Together the brain and spinal cord are the
central nervous system to which peripheral sensory and motor nerves connect.

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