General Information about Chordates

Read: Chordates the Voyage to Us Bones, Brawn and Brains from the Shape of Life book.

This article is about chordates and, in detail, about the subphylum vertebratesPhylum Chordata. This one is about invertebrate chordates and this one is about vertebrate chordates and what distinguished them from invertebrate chordates.

Pelagic tunicates are gelatinous chordates that live in the midwater zone of the ocean. There are a few different kinds including salps, doliolids and pyrosomes. Here are photographs.

Larvaceans are small tadpole like pelagic tunicates that create a large mucus net to catch food.

General Info

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    Book with pencil

Role in Ecosystem

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    Bee with arrows around it

Climate

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    Thermometer and waves

Human Interaction

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    Human next to globe

Paleontology

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    Skull of dinosaur
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    Lesson Plan
    Our Chordate Family Tree
    Students explore the evolution of the phylum Chordata by constructing a "family tree" - a diagram of evolutionary traits and animals.

    Full Lesson Plan