Vertebrates

 There are millions of different species in the world today - from the largest mammals to the smallest insects - and every single living being is classed as being either a vertebrate or an invertebrate.  95% of the animal population are invertebrates, compared to only 5% being vertebrates.

 

What is a Vertebrate?

Vertebrates are animals that have a backbone.  The backbone, also called the spinal column, is formed by bones called vertebrae that protect the spinal nerve, hence the term vertebrates for animals that have a spine.  On the other hand, an invertebrate is an animal that does not have a spinal column or vertebrae.

 

Vertebrates have a skeleton that gives their bodies a solid form and structure and supports their muscles and organs.  They also have a developed brain, heart, eyes, and mouth.

 

 

Types of Vertebrates

There are five main types of vertebrates and these are mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.  These are all animals that always posses a backbone.  There are around 28,000 different species of fish, making it the biggest group of vertebrates out of the five types, compared with only 6,495 species of mammal in the world.

 

The fish group of vertebrates can also be divided further into Osteichthyes (bony fish, fish that have a skeleton made from bones), Chondrichthyes (sharks, manta rays and skates), and Agnatha (jawless fish).

 

 

Differences Between Invertebrates and Vertebrates

 

	Vertebrates	Invertebrates
Do they have a backbone	Yes	No
Do they have a heart	Yes	Not all do, and not a complex and developed one
Do they have a skeleton	Yes, fully developed skeleton made from bones with the exception of sharks, manta rays, and skates that have a bone spinal column but a skeleton made from cartilage	Most have no skeleton although some invertebrates such as spiders have an external skeleton made from hard material, called an exoskeleton
Size	Substantial size, can be very large and move fast	Mainly very small and slow-moving
How do they breathe	Through lungs or gills	Through gills, absorbed through the body surface, or through the tracheae
Reproduction method	Sexual reproduction	Asexual reproduction
How many legs do they have	Never more than four limbs - either two arms and two legs, or four legs.  The exception being those that have no limbs at all such as snakes	Can have many legs (mainly insects) or have none at all

 

There are also a number of other differences between vertebrates and invertebrates.  For example, invertebrates all have a body that takes one of two forms - either a symmetrical body where the right and left side mirror each other, barring an obvious front end and an obvious back end, or they have a round shape that is based around a mouth in the centre of the body.

 

Also, most invertebrates do not have blood but contain a yellowish or greenish substance.  It is that colour because invertebrates do not have red blood cells.

 

Not only that, but vertebrates are much more intelligent than invertebrates and have complex and fully developed brains, unlike invertebrate animals.

 

List of Vertebrates

There is a vast number of animals that are vertebrates and some of them include:

Elephants

Giraffes

Leopards

Dogs

Cats

Deer

Wolves

Whales

Sharks

Dolphins

Snakes

Goldfish

Salmon