IJMB BIOLOGY
LECTURE 19
ANIMAL KINGDOM
PHYLUM CHORDATA
BY
Mrs Asiya Abubakar Muhammad
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOME
• At the end of the class, the students should be able to know the
following:
• The meaning of Chordates.
• The characteristics of Chordates.
• The various classes of Chordates
INTRODUCTION
Phylum Chordata belongs to the Kingdom
Animalia and includes all the vertebrates, i.e.,
animals with a backbone, and several
invertebrates, i.e., organisms without a
backbone.
Although not the largest, Chordates are one of
the most diverse phylum in the animal kingdom.
They possess a bilaterally symmetrical body and
are divided into three different sub-phyla.
Urochordata (tunicates),
Cephalochordata (lancelets) and
Vertebrata (vertebrates).
CHARACTERISTICS
• Chordates must have these four
characteristics at some stage in their life
cycle.
• NOTOCHORD
• DORSAL NERVE CORD
• PHARYNGEAL (THROAT) SLITS
• POST ANAL TAIL
CHARACTERISTICS
• Chordates must have these four
characteristics at some stage in their life
cycle.
• NOTOCHORD
• It is a longitudinal, rigid, cartilaginous rod
running between the nerve cord and the
digestive tract.
• It acts as a support and protection for the
nerve cord and is replaced by the vertebral
column after the embryonic stage in all
vertebrates.
CHARACTERISTICS
• DORSAL NERVE CORD
• It is a bundle of nerves running along the
“back” and splits into the brain and the
spinal cord.
• In the vertebrates, the vertebrae
(developed notochord) surround and
protect the nerve cord creating the
spine.
• PHARYNGEAL (THROAT) SLITS
• They are the openings which allow the
entry of water through the mouth without
entering the digestive system viz. they
connect mouth and throat.
• All Chordates have these openings on the
lateral sides of the pharynx at some stage
of their life (Only visible during
embroyonic stages).
• In water-breathing animals these become
gills or gill slits.
POST ANAL TAIL
• It is an extension of the body to the anus.
• In chordates, the tail is composed of
skeletal muscles which help in locomotion
in fish-like species.
• It is absent in most of the adult Chordates.
• Other characteristics of chordates include:
• Bilaterally symmetrical at some stage of the
life cycle, triploblastic, coelomic and
segmented body.
• The body design is complex and well-
differentiated (A degree of cephalization
and have a closed circulatory system (the
blood is closed at all times within vessels –
it does not fill body cavities).
• The body has an organ system level of
organization.
CLASSIFICATION OF PHYLUM
CHORDATA
• Phylum Chordata is classified into
three subphyla, namely
• Urochordata (tunicates),
• Cephalochordata (lancelets)
• Vertebrata (vertebrates).
• The subphylum Urochordata and
Cephalochordata are collectively
known as protochordates, which are
marine animals.
• They are invertebrates but they share
attributes of chordates.
Urochordata
• Invertebrate chordates (no vertebral column).
• Have all four characteristics during larval
stage but not adult form.
• Larval stage are free swimming.
• Most adults tunicates are sessile (non-motile)
and filter feeding (pharyngeal slits are
modified for filter feeding).
• The larvaceans are a group of tunicates that
remain in the larval form and do not become
the sessile adult.
• Potential evolutionary link to free swimming
fishes.
Urochordata
• The adults are fixed to the substratum.
• It is also known as tunicate because the body
of an adult is enclosed within a tunic made up
of cellulose-like substance known as tunicin.
• Notochord can be seen only in the larval stage
and disappears in adults.
• The nerve cord present in larva is replaced by
a dorsal ganglion in adults.
• The larva can move and undergoes a
metamorphosis.
• For e.g., Ascidia, Salpa, Doliolum.
• Cephalochordata
• Invertebrate chordates (no vertebral
column).
• Maintain all four key characteristics
throughout all life stages.
• The pharynx has pharyngeal slits which are
used in feeding (filter food particles out of
the water).
• Primitive or simple -> similar to chordate
ancestors that gave rise to vertebrates.
• Cephalochordata
• The atrium is present
• Motile adult and larval stage.
• The tail is present throughout life.
• They show progressive metamorphosis
(increase in complexity).
• The notochord is found throughout life.
• Numerous well-developed pharyngeal gill
slits are present.
• For e.g., Lancelets possess the notochord and
nerve cord throughout their life.
• However, they lack the brain and bony
vertebral column like Branchiostoma.
• Vertebrata
• These are advanced chordates and have cranium
around the brain.
• Major evolutionary advancement – presence of
a vertebral column, which protects the nerve
cord
• The notochord is replaced by a vertebral column
in adults.
• This is why it is said that ‘all vertebrates are
chordates but all chordates are not vertebrates’.
• Vertebrata
• A high degree of cephalization is observed.
• The epidermis is multi-layered.
• They consist of three types of muscles-striped,
unstriped and cardiac.
• They have a well-developed coelom.
• The alimentary canal is complete.
• The heart is three or four-chambered.
• They have well-developed respiratory and
excretory systems.
• Endocrine glands are present in all.
• They are unisexual and reproduce sexually, hagfish
being an exception.
• For e.g., humans.
• Subphylum Vertebrata is further classified into seven classes. They
are:
• Cyclostomata
• Chondrichthyes
• Osteichthyes
• Amphibia
• Reptilia
• Aves
• Mammalia
• Examples of Phylum Chordata
• Examples of phylum Chordata include the following:
• Lampreys
• This chordate belongs to the sub-phylum Vertebrata.
• It is a fish devoid of jaws and spends its larval stages as a filter-feeder.
• It gets transformed into a parasite as it grows into an adult.
• Sea Squirt
• It is a Urochordate with a barrel-shaped body attached to the
substratum.
• The larva is tadpole-like and possesses a notochord.
• They bear a dorsal nerve, pharyngeal slits and a post-anal tail.
IMPORTANCE OF CHORDATES IN AN ECOSYSTEM
• Chordates are mainly essential for an ecosystem as these vertebrates or
invertebrates are the carnivores or herbivores or omnivores which help
sustain the ecosystem.
• The phylum Chordata consists of many animals which consume and hunt
down other animals, hence maintaining the numbers of predator and prey.
• Omnivores also help an ecosystem sustain itself as the more they eat plants
the more room there will be for other plants to grow.
• Chordates also help the environment as their excretion, bones, and remains
provide nutrients and minerals to ecosystem.
• All in all, Chordates are detrimentally important to ecosystems, as their
actions affect the ecosystems sustainability in a very large method.
QUIZ
• 1. mention the four characteristics of chordates
• 2. What are the three sub-phyla of chordates
• 3. Mention five characteristics of vertebrate animals.
