BIOLOGY DIVERSITY IN LIVING ORGANISMS

Vertebrates

 Vertebrates are a sub-group of chordates in which the notochord develops into the spine. Notochord
gets replaced by vertebral column in adults.
 Vertebrates are further classified into following classes:
o Class Pisces
o Class Amphibia
o Class Reptilia
o Class Aves
o Class Mammalia

LOCATION CHARACTERISTICS EXAMPLES

Class Pisces

Exclusively  Organisms belonging to Class Pisces are fish. Cartilaginous fish:

aquatic  Fish respire through their gills and obtain oxygen Shark, dogfish, skate
animals dissolved in water. Bony fish: Carp,
 They are cold-blooded or poikilothermic animals. roach, herring, trout
 The skin of fish is rough and covered with
scales/plates which form the exoskeleton. The scales
provide protection to the fish.

 They do not have limbs for locomotion, but they have

paired or unpaired fins with the help of which they
move in water. They also help in balancing.

 The two main types of fish are cartilaginous and bony

fish.

 Cartilaginous fish have a skeleton made of cartilage.

Their gill-slits are exposed without a gill-cover.

 Bony fish have a skeleton made of bones. Their gill-

slits are concealed under a gill-cover.

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Class Amphibia

Partly live on  The body is divisible into head and trunk. The neck is Frog, toad,
land and partly absent. salamander, newt
in water.  Have short forelimbs and long hind limbs with five
webbed digits.
 Respiration in early stages of life as larvae is by means
of gills, while adult amphibians breathe by means of
lungs.
 Lack scales on their body. The body is smooth.
 The eardrum or tympanum lies on the surface of the
skin.
 They are pentadactyl with five-fingered limbs.
 Have a three-chambered heart with two auricles and
one ventricle.
 Cold-blooded vertebrate animals.

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Class Reptilia

Terrestrial as  The body is covered with dry water-proof skin with Lizard, snake,
well as aquatic horny epidermal scales or dermal scute plates. tortoise, turtle,
 The body is divisible into head, neck, abdomen and crocodile, alligator
tail.
 The skin is dry, rough and has horny scales on it.
 Cold-blooded, have scales and breathe through lungs
right from birth.
 Pentadactyl animals.
 Respire only with lungs.
 Eggs have a tough leathery shell.
 Most of them have a three-chambered heart. Ventricle
of the heart is partially divided.
 The eardrum or tympanum lies at the bottom of a
tubular depression.

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Class Aves

Mostly aerial  All birds belong to Class Aves. Pigeon, sparrow,

 Warm blooded or homeothermal animals. crow, duck, owl,
 The heart is four chambered. penguin, ostrich, emu
 The body is covered with feathers. They have wings to
fly. Two forelimbs of birds are modified into wings.
 Mouth is modified into a beak.
 They have scales only on the legs.
 They respire through lungs.
 The body is streamlined.
 They lay eggs with calcareous shells.

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Class Mammalia

Terrestrial,  Directly give birth to living young ones. Cat, dog, cow, sheep,
aerial and  They suckle young ones by means of mammary glands. rat, bat, seal, monkey,
aquatic  Have hair on their skin as well as sweat and oil glands. ape, man
 Warm-blooded animals.
 Have four-chambered heart with two auricles and two
ventricles.
 Have a muscular diaphragm separating the thorax and
abdomen internally.
 Breathe by means of lungs.
 As a rule, they have a pair of external ears or pinnae
and external testes contained in a scrotum (testicles).

Osmoregulatory organs called nephridia occur in many invertebrates. When they are closed
at the inner end, they are called protonephridia. However, when they open into a coelomic
space at their inner end, they are called metanephridia.

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Differences between Vertebrates and Invertebrates

VERTEBRATES FEATURES INVERTEBRATES

1. Have an internal Internal skeleton 1. No internal skeleton
skeleton
2. Backbone present Backbone 2. Backbone absent
3. Tail usually present Tail 3. Tail absent (anus at the tip of the back
end of the body)
4. Heart on the ventral side Heart 4. Heart when present, on the dorsal side
of the body of the body
5. Nerve (spinal) cord Spinal cord 5. Nerve cord ventral and solid
dorsal and hollow
6. Have two pairs of limbs Limbs 6. Have three or more pairs of limbs, if
present
7. Haemoglobin in red Haemoglobin 7. Haemoglobin, if present, dissolved
blood cells
8. Fish, frog, lizard, bird Examples 8. Leech, earthworm, Sycon

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