VMD 512: Zoo/Wild Animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

TYPICAL ATTRIBUTES OF CHORDATES

Basic features of chordates

• Notochord (this is the elsastic skeletal rod below the nerve cord and above the alimentary canal and may be replaced partially or completely by vertebral column.
• Dorsal tubular nerve cord (this is a hollow tubular nerve cord that is filled with fluid above the notochord and is present in most of the vertebrates but in a few it degenerates before the maturity)
• Gill clefts (these are the paired openings communicating to the exterior from the pharynx. In higher chordates, they usually form the endocrine glands.

Note

• In chordates, the notochord or vertebral column is present in all but the other two features may completely disappear at eh maturity stage in most cases.