Trisha Mae L.

Pedoy
BS Biology 3-2
Classes of Subphylum Vertebrata

Class Mammalia (Mammals)

 Characteristic: This class of organisms can regulate their body temperature regardless of
the surrounding ambient temperature. As a result, mammals, which include humans and
platypuses, are known as endothermic animals.

 Nutrition: This is referred to as heterotrophic nutrition in animals. Fungi, humans, and

other animals, for example, are all directly or indirectly dependent on plants for food and
nutrition.

 Respiration: When air enters the body through the nasal cavity, it causes pulmonary
ventilation in mammals. Air is warmed to body temperature and humidified as it passes
through the nasal cavity. To protect the tissues from direct contact with air, the
respiratory tract is coated with water-rich mucus.

 Circulation: The circulatory system in mammals is closed, and blood is transported

through blood vessels. Mammalian hearts are four-chambered, with two auricles and two
ventricles. The arteries transport oxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the rest of
the body.

 Reproduction: Mammals reproduce sexually by combining sperm and egg. Once

mature, males produce viable sperm capable of fertilizing the egg (oocyte) released by
mature females during the process known as ovulation. The fertilized egg can produce
offspring. The egg and uterine lining degrade if not fertilized.

 Development: Mammals go through holoblastic rotational cleavage, which is

distinguished by a slow rate of division, a distinct cleavage orientation, a lack of
divisional synchrony, and the formation of a blastocyst.

 Orders:

Class Aves (Birds)

  Characteristic: This group of organisms is distinguished by feathers, toothless beaks,
and a rapid metabolic rate. Warm-blooded vertebrates that are more closely related to
reptiles than mammals, with a four-chambered heart, forelimbs modified into wings, and
a hard-shelled egg.

 Nutrition: Birds cannot chew their food because they lack teeth. Instead, they simply
shove it down their throat. Pigeons and game birds, for example, have a pouch in their
throat called the crop. When feeding quickly, they store food here to digest later.

 Respiration: Birds, like mammals, have lungs, which are organs that specialize in gas
exchange. During inhalation, oxygenated air diffuses across the surface of the lungs into
the bloodstream, while carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the lungs and is
expelled during exhalation.

 Circulation: Because birds have a closed circulatory system, they are thought to have
moved more quickly, allowing them to get food faster and possibly prey on insects.

 Reproduction: All birds reproduce through egg laying. Eggs are laid inside the female
and then laid in a nest. Egg laying, which is the equivalent of ovulation in mammals, can
occur in captive female birds without fertilization or even the presence of a male.

 Development: Baby birds go through a series of developmental stages during their first
month of life. These stages include hatching from an egg, learning to chirp and
communicate with other birds, and eventually learning to fly. These stages of
development can be discussed in terms of days and weeks.

 Orders:

Class Reptilia (Reptiles)

 Characteristic: The fact that reptiles are ectothermic is one of their distinguishing
characteristics. This is a class of air-breathing vertebrates with internal fertilization,
amniotic development, and epidermal scales covering a portion or the entire body.

 Nutrition: Modern reptiles consume animal life in the form of insects, mollusks, birds,
frogs, mammals, fishes, or even other reptiles. Land tortoises are vegetarians, eating only
leaves, grass, and, in some cases, cactus.

 Respiration: Reptiles' scales prevent them from absorbing oxygen through their skin like
amphibians. Reptiles, on the other hand, only breathe air through their lungs.

 Circulation: The reptilian circulatory system is closed, which means that blood is always
contained within vessels.
  Reproduction: The vast majority of reptiles reproduce sexually and have internal
fertilization. Males have one or two penises that transport sperm from their cloaca to a
female's cloaca. Fertilization takes place within the cloaca, and fertilized eggs exit the
female's body through the cloacal opening.

 Development: Most reptiles have a period of rapid juvenile growth that slows once they
reach full adulthood. After a few years of maturity, growth stops completely. In contrast,
some large-bodied species are likely to have indeterminate, or attenuated, growth.

 Orders:

Class Amphibia (Amphibians)

 Characteristic: The breeding behavior of amphibians is what distinguishes them from
reptiles. Because their eggs are shell less, most amphibians require a body of water to
reproduce. Furthermore, they go through metamorphosis, in which the young change
from a fully aquatic larval form (with gills and fins) to a terrestrial adult form.

 Nutrition: Most amphibians require live food for long-term survival. Most adult
terrestrial and aquatic amphibians eat invertebrates, such as earthworms, bloodworms,
black worms, white worms, tubifex worms, springtails, fruit flies, fly larvae, mealworms,
and crickets.

 Respiration: Most amphibians breathe through their skin and their lungs. Their skin
must remain wet in order for them to absorb oxygen, so they secrete mucous to keep their
skin moist; if their skin becomes too dry, they will be unable to breathe and will die.

 Circulation: Amphibians have two circulatory routes: one for blood oxygenation via the
lungs and skin, and another for oxygen delivery to the rest of the body. A three-
chambered heart with two atria and a single ventricle pumps blood.

 Reproduction: Amphibians reproduce by laying eggs with a soft skin rather than a hard
shell. Most females lay eggs in the water, and the babies, known as larvae or tadpoles,
live in the water, breathing through gills and seeking food in the same way that fish do.
Tadpoles develop legs and lungs as they grow, allowing them to live on land.

 Development: After birth, most amphibians undergo metamorphosis, a process of

significant morphological change. Eggs are laid in water during typical amphibian
development, and larvae are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. Frogs, toads, and salamanders
all hatch as larvae with external gills from the egg.
  Orders:

Class Osteichthyes (Bony Fishes)

 Characteristic: This group of fishes is distinguished by a skeleton made primarily of
bone rather than cartilage. Today, the class Osteichthyes is also the largest class of
vertebrates.

 Nutrition: The majority of bony fish eat an omnivorous diet, which means they eat both
plants and animals.

 Respiration: Fish exchange gases by sucking in oxygen-rich water and pumping it over
their gills. Capillary blood flows in the opposite direction to the water within the gill
filaments, causing counter-current exchange.

 Circulation: The class Osteichthyes includes all bony fish with a closed circulatory
system. This system includes a heart, blood, blood vessels, and gills, all of which work
similarly to the circulatory system of a human.

 Reproduction: Most bony fish are oviparous, which means that the female releases
thousands of tiny eggs into the water, where they are externally fertilized by sperm
produced by the male and develop into small fish.

 Development: Some bony fish are hermaphrodites, and a few species go through
parthenogenesis. Fertilization is typically external, but it can be internal as well. The
development process is usually oviparous (egg-laying), but it can also be ovoviviparous
or viviparous.

 Orders:
1. Acipenseriformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Psephurus gladius Chinese paddlefish
Acipenser sinensis Chinese sturgeon
Acipenser dabryanus Dabry’s sturgeon

2. Albuliformes

Scientific Name Common Name

 Albula vulpes Bone fishes
Halosauropsis macrochir Abyssal halosaur 
Pronotacanthus sahelalmae Deep-sea Spiny eel

3. Amiiformes

Scientific Name Common Name

 Amia calva Bowfin
Amia ocellicauda Eye tail bowfin

4. Anguilliformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Monopterus albus Rice eel
Yirrkala timorensis Earthworm snake eel
Taenioides mordax  Eel goby

5. Beloniformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Adrianichthys kruyti Duckbilled buntingi
Platybelone argalus Keel tail Needlefish
Cololabis saira Pacific saury

6. Salmoniformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Andrias japonicus Japanese giant salamander
Gadus chalcogrammus Alaska pollock 
Oncorhynchus clarkii Cutthroat trout

7. Aulopiformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Rineloricaria fallax Whiptail cat fish
Muraenesox cinereus Dark fin pike eel 
Alepisaurus ferox  Long-nose lancet fish 
8. Cyprinodontiformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Epiplatys annulatus Clown Killifish
Cyprinodon diabolis Devils Hole pupfish
Fundulus chrysotus Golden topminnow 

9. Cypriniformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Cyprinus carpio Common carp
Carassius auratus Goldfish
Pangio kuhlii Kuhli Loach

10. Lampridiformes

Scientific Name Common Name

Regalecus glesne Oarfish
Lampris regius Opah
Trichiurus lepturus Ribbon fish