Vertebrate and invertebrate animals: characteristics, examples and differences

Next, we will mention, as a summary, the main characteristics of vertebrate animals:

• As a starting point, we can say that vertebrate animals are those that present Internal skeleton Articulated and formed by calcified or cartilaginous bones but, although the “vertebrate” concept refers to the spine, the truth is that this characteristic has evolved a lot from the first animals considered vertebrate, since they did not have a backbone column. So why are they considered vertebrates? Because the original term refers to the fact of having A skull.
• The first vertebrates in history did not have jaws, which are linked to the skull, also a characteristic element of this group of animals and its appearance, according to many authors, is the change in food for predation filtration. In response to the phylogenetic evolution of vertebrates, the first considered are a group of fish without jaw that date from 550 million years ago.
• Then in the tree of evolution, there are the cartilaginous fish (such as sharks or stripes), which lack ossification in their bones and is also a group also very old but not as numerous as the Bone fish (such as salmon or mackerel).
• Later, about 365 million years ago they arise The amphibians And from then on, reptiles and birds And finally, Mammalsbeing these last two characteristic groups by internally regularly their body temperature (they are endoterms).
• In short, all vertebrate animals have in common the possession of an internal bone or cartilaginous skeleton, bilateral symmetry, skull and a spine -shaped notocorda.

Next, we expose a series of Examples of the classification of vertebrate animalssome of which you will know:

• Fish: without jaw (agnates), such as lampreas or mixines, or with jaws (gnatosotomados), such as sharks or clown fish.
• Amphibians: such as frogs, salamanders, toads or lostritones.
• Reptiles: Lizards, snakes, crocodiles and turtles.
• Birds: Like ostrich, pigeons, raptors, penguins …
• Mammals: such as kangaroos, bats or humans.

We recommend learning more details with this other article on vertebrate animals: classification, characteristics and examples.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs8zyrv3w-w

Now we focus on mentioning the main characteristics of invertebrate animals:

• They have no spine or internal skeleton articulated, although yes They have notocorda.
• However, it is possible that some of the animals of this group present exoskeletonas in arthropods.
• On the other hand, it is a very extensive and diverse group of animals that also have in common ECTOTERMOSthat is, they cannot maintain constant body temperature.
• Another feature is that they can present radiated symmetry, that is, the animal’s body cannot be divided into two equal parts.
• The origin of the invertebrates is difficult to determine, since of the former who inhabited the earth there is no clear evidence because they were soft and small body and, therefore, there were no direct fossil evidence.

Discover +20 curiosities of invertebrate animals.

In this section we present some examples of invertebrate animals and, for this, we will better rely on the classification and we will also mention some of its more general characteristics.

Classification of invertebrate animals with examples

• Arthropods: Very diverse group that represents 80% of animal species and that includes insects, spiders and aquatic species such as crustaceans.
• Cnidarians: It is the group of jellyfish, anemones and corals.
• Platelmintos: Platelmints are the most primitive group of invertebrate animals and are known as flattened worms.
• Anélidos: more commonly known as worms, which include leeches also and owe their name to presenting ring -shaped segments throughout the body.
• Molluscs: They are invertebrates whose main characteristic is the presence of a shell that protects its soft body. Includes clams, oysters, octopus or snails.
• Equinodermos: It is a group of marine animals that presents thorns in the body and encompasses sea stars, hedgehogs, oph. holoturias and crinoideos.
• Poriferous: better known as sea sponges, they are a edge of aquatic animals that presents pores through which the water flows and thanks to which it performs the filtration of nutrients.

Here you can read more about invertebrate animals: examples and characteristics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spvc4xbkcic

We can conclude, therefore, that there are clear differences between vertebrate and invertebrate animals.

• Vertebrate animals have Internal skeleton bone or cartilaginous and invertebrate animals can present exoskeleton with which they protect the internal organs.
• There are ectoterms and endotermos and invertebrates are usually ECTOTERMOS.
• Vertebrates usually present a greater body size than invertebrates.
• Vertebrate animals usually have sexual reproduction, with the exception of some fish that have asexual reproduction and are lived animals. Invertebrate animals are mostly oviparous animals and there are sexual reproduction and there are also them with asexual reproduction.

Despite existing great differences between both groups, it is also possible to find similarities between them.

• Generally, they are living beings of eukaryotes domainbelonging to the animal kingdom or animalia and, therefore, they reproduce, develop and die.
• They are also capable of moveas well as present the ability to capture information from abroad through external or internal sensory organs.
• They are also heterotrophic organisms (unable to manufacture their own organic matter) and multicellular.
• More specifically, vertebrates and invertebrates have the presence of The notocordathey have a digestive system with mouth and anus and closed circulatory and segmented muscles.

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