LIFE SCIENCE 10-1 What are chordates?

OBJ: Identify the structure of chordates.

I. Phylum Chordata - fish, frogs, snakes, birds, cats, and many other
animals have had a notochord at sometime.
NOTOCHORD = strong, rod-like structure in chordates that can bend.
- it is used for support.
- it is located just below the nerve cord that runs down
the back of the animal.
CHORDATE = animal with a notochord at the sometime during its
development.
- classified in the phylum CHORDATA.

II. Other Chordate Features - hollow nerve cord.

Nerve Cord - carries messages between all the nerves in the body
and the brain.
- Chordates have paired gill slits at some point in their
development.
Gills - are used to take in oxygen dissolved in water.

III. Body Plan of Chordates - Chordates have a bilateral symmetry.

- each half is a mirror image of the other.
- Chordates have a tail at some point in their
development.
- in humans it is reduced to a tailbone.
- Chordates have many organ systems.
- closed circulatory system, made up of a heart
and many blood vessels.
- highest developed nervous system of all
animals.

III. Lancelets - In most adult chordates, the notochord is replaced by

a backbone.
- Lancelets are small, fishlike animals that keep their
notochord throughout its life.