Chordata

Chordata A phylum of animals characterized by a hollow dorsal nerve cord and, at some stage in their development, a flexible skeletal rod (the notochord) and gill slits opening from the pharynx. There are four subphyla: the Urochordata (sea squirts), Cephalochordata (lancelets), Agnatha (jawless chordates), and Gnathostomata (jawed chordates). In the Agnatha and Gnathostomata, commonly known as vertebrates or craniates, the notochord is present only in the embryo or larva and becomes replaced by the vertebral column (backbone) before birth or metamorphosis. This has permitted the vertebrates a greater degree of movement and subsequent improvement in the sense organs and enlargement of the brain, which is enclosed in a skeletal case, the cranium.

In some classifications the two nonvertebrate subphyla are elevated to the status of phyla and the jawed and jawless chordates are included together in a third phylum, Craniata, containing a single subphylum, Vertebrata. The old subphyla Agnatha and Gnathostomata are then regarded as superclasses of the Vertebrata.