Chapter 2

THE VERTEBRATE
ANATOMY

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 Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy

• FOCUS: * organs and organ systems

* their roles in survival

* their embryogenesis

* their historical background in

geological time
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 The Phylum Chordata: The Big Four
• Notochord – (1st skeletal structure) 1st skeleton at the back,
extend from midbrain to tip of the tail.
• Dorsal hollow central nervous system - neurocoel, central
lumen or canal of the CNS arise from neural groove.

• Post anal tail – posterior elongation of the body extending beyond the
anus (mostly for locomotory function to chordates that
retain this characteristic)

• Pharyngeal slits – (gill slits) a glandular groove in the floor of the

pharynx; appear early in embryonic development

Chordates are animals that have a notochord during the embryo stage at
least.
Craniates are chordates with a cranium.
** Not all chordates have
vertebrae.
Vertebrates are chordates with vertebrae. 3
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 The Craniate Body: General Plan
I. Regional Differentiation

Typical regional components: HEAD, TRUNK, and POST ANAL TAIL

a. Head = with special sense organs (monitor external

environment)

- brain (receive & process information, & provide appropriate

stimuli to body musculature)

- jaws (acquire, retain, macerate food)

- gills in fishes (respiration)

- greater degree of cephalization in craniates than in any other

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group of animals
b. Trunk = with coelom - house most of viscera
• body wall - surrounds coelom

• consists chiefly of muscle, vert. column, ribs)

• paired pectoral and pelvic appendages (fins or limbs)

in many craniates

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• neck - narrow extension of trunk of
amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals

- consists primarily of vertebrae,

muscles, spinal cord, nerves, elongated
tubes (esophagus, blood vessels,
lymphatics, trachea) that connect
structures of head with trunk

• with 2 pairs of appendages – pectoral and

pelvic) supported by internal skeleton

- sometimes vestigial or completely lost 7

c. Tail - starts at anus or vent (postanal);
consists of caudal continuation of body wall
muscles, axial skeleton, nerves, & blood
vessels

- absent in some adult craniates but present in all

embryos (e.g. swimming larvae of frogs, toads, &
wormlike amphibians have tails but are lost during
metamorphosis)

- modern bird tails - reduced to nubbin

- humans have vestigial post anal tail early in

embryonic life; its remnant in adults is the
tailbone or coccyx 8
 II. Metamerism
• the serial repetition of structures in the
longitudinal axis of the body

• clearly manifested in craniate embryos &

is retained in many adult systems

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• no external evidence in most adult reptiles,
birds, & mammals

• but internally a series of muscle segments

are visible
- serial arrangement of vertebrae,
ribs, spinal nerves, embryonic kidney
tubules, segmental arteries &
veins)

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 CRANIATE CHARACTERISTICS
(Morphological Features)
a. Cranium

b. 3-part brain

c. Neural crest and its derivatives

d. Paired external sense organs (e.g., olfactory, optic,

otic with a single semicircular canal, & lateral line
system with unicellular sense organs)

e. Cartilage
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 STRUCTURES COMMON TO CRANIATES
(notochord, pharynx, dorsal hollow cns,
postanal tail)
1. Notochord and Vertebral Column

Notochord = rod of living cells ventral to cns and

dorsal to alimentary canal
- the 1st skeletal structure to
appear in craniate embryos
- derived from mesoderm
Vertebrae = replace the
notochord in adult stage
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Fate of notochord …..

* During development:

• Head region – incorporated into floor of

skull

• Trunk and tail – surrounded by

cartilaginous or bony vertebrae

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* Fate of notochord in adult
fishes and amhibians:
• Fishes and amphibians – notochord persists the
length of the trunk and tail but is
constricted within the centrum of each vertebra

Centrum

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Fate of notochord in adults......
• Reptiles, birds and mammals – notochord
almost disappears during
development

• Protochordates – notochord remains as

the chief axial skeleton

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2. Pharyngial slits

• common to hemichordates & chordates: pharynx

perforated by openings ( slits) to either the exterior
or an atrium (reflecting common ancestry)

• it is the vital part of craniate embryo that produces:

* gills of fishes (permanent slits)

* lungs of tetrapods (temporary slits)

* skeleton & musculature of jaws

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Pharyngeal pouches

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* endocrine glands
* other tissues & circulating blood

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* gives rise to middle ear cavity of tetrapods

* provides initial cells of immune system

during fetal life & shortly after (in humans)

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 Pharyngeal Pouches & Slits

Pouches

* arises as diverticula of endoderm of

foregut; grow toward the surface of animal

* establish the limits of pharynx

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* maximum no. of arches in jawed craniates: 8
(e.g. basal shark); 15 (living agnathans)

* Ectodermal groove grows toward each pouch;

branchial plate separates groove from pouch

* A passageway (pharyngeal slit) is formed

between pharyngeal lumen and exterior of
animal, if & when, branchial plate ruptures

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 Slits

* May be permanent (in fishes, exits for

respiratory water from gills) or
temporary (in most tetrapods)

* Temporary if animals is going to live on

land

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 3. Dorsal Hollow CNS

• Consists of brain and spinal cord

• Contains neurocoel (central lumen)

• Typically arises as longitudinal neural groove

(becomes the dorsal surface of embryo)

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 Dorsal Hollow CNS
• Neural groove closes over or rolls up,
sinks beneath the surface to become a
hollow neural tube (dorsal to
notochord)

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• Neurulation – neural tube formation

• Wider anterior portion of tube becomes the

brain with its ventricles

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 4. Post anal tail
• Appears in all embryonic stages and still
present in some adult chordates

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Vertebrate Evolution, Origin
and Diversity

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Evidence of Evolution: Homology
A question often posed by folks who do
not understand evolutionary mechanisms
is:

"If humans evolved from

monkeys, then why are there
still monkeys?"
.....

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"If humans evolved from monkeys, then
why are there still monkeys?"
.....
1. Humans did not evolve from monkeys.

2. Rather, humans and monkeys share a

common ancestor.

3. There are still monkeys because, like

humans, they descended from
successful ancestors.
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All living things give birth that are--more or
less--fairly similar to themselves.

Evolution proceeds by incremental

changes to the raw material that's already
present in any given population of
organisms.

It is a process of gradual "remodeling" of a

body plan by both random events and
natural selection.

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How do we know?

What observable evidence exists to support the idea that life on earth
has evolved its diversity through a long process of descent with
modification?

One of the most powerful forms of evidence is

homology.

1. Homology - is a characteristic shared by two

species (or other taxa) that are similar because
of common ancestry.

2. Morphological homology - species (correctly)

placed in the same taxonomic category show
anatomical similarities.
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3. Ontogenetic homology - species placed
in the same taxonomic category show
developmental (embryological)
similarities.

4. Molecular homology - species placed in

the same taxonomic category show
similarities in DNA, RNA and protein.

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1. Morphological Homology

Structures derived from a common ancestral structure (that

may or may not be used for the same function in the
species in which it occurs) are called homologous
structures.

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2. Ontogenetic Homology
•ontogeny is the process of embryo development (from the
Greek onto, meaning "being" or "existence" and
genesis meaning "origin")

•phylogeny is a species' evolutionary history (from the

Greek phyla, meaning "tribe" and genesis meaning
"origin")

Haeckel was the first to notice that the embryonic forms of

different species had amazing physical similarities.

* The similarities of embryo development of different species

are remnants of the embryonic development features of
those species' common ancestor. 37
3. Molecular Homology

The deepest level of homology: The molecules that carry the

instructions for making and running our bodies, encoded in
our DNA.

The evolutionary history of a species can be seen in its DNA

sequences. The more closely related two species are, the
more similar their DNA sequences.

The very existence of DNA in every living thing on earth is,

in itself, strong evidence of common ancestry.

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END

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