chordata

• Latin root chord, meaning string, and the Latin word “chordatus”, meaning “having a spine.
• Bilateral symmetrical deuterostomes; segmented, but segmentation inconspicuous in many
• Coelom well-developed
• A unique combination of 5 embryological features:

  Notochord

  pharyngeal slits or pouches

  dorsal tubular nerve cord

  postanal tail

  endostyle or thyroid gland
• Complete digestive tract.
• Asexual reproduction by parthenogenesis in some fishes, amphibians, and lizards
• Sexes usually separate; hermaphroditism in sea squirts and some fishes; fertilization internal or external;
• Subphylum Cephalochordata

  
• Subphylum Urochordat