Chordate Characteristics
Fishy Facts
Who Am I?
Taxonomy Trivia
What's the Structure?
100
All chordate vertebrates have this oxygen-transporting protein in their circulatory systems.
What is hemoglobin?
100
This compound is accumulated in the body of fish due to their bodies being hypoosmotic.
What is urea?
100
I am a jawless fish that secretes slime to avoid predation.
What is a hagfish?
100
The taxonomic subphylum of all chordates with a vertebral column.
What is Subphylum Vertebrata?
100
The tail fin of fish that provides the majority of forward thrust when swimming.
What is the caudal fin?
200
The groupings of muscles in chordates with a vertebral column.
What are myomeres?
200
The term for the hardened scales of cartilaginous fish due to the extra layer of enamel-like material.
What are dermal denticles?
200
I am the second-largest living shark.
What is the Basking Shark?
200
This is the taxonomic class of the cartilaginous fish.
What is Class Chondrichthyes?
200
This structure found in only the bony fish helps them to adjust their buoyancy in the water.
What is the swim bladder?
300
This common chordate structure hardens through ossification to form the vertebrae.
What is the notochord?
300
This notable and dangerous structure is found in rays but not in skates.
What is a spine?
300
I am a sedentary, nocturnal shark with a brown coloration that is not typical of most other shark species.
What is a nurse shark?
300
The taxonomic subphylum of sea squirts.
What is Subphylum Tunicata?
300
The small hole behind the eyes of a shark that provides a water flow to the gills.
What are spiracles?
400
This group of invertebrate organisms exhibits all chordate characteristics throughout their entire life.
What are lancelets?
400
The term for fish that return to freshwater in order to spawn.
What is anadromous?
400
I am the only living species of marine lobe-finned fish.
What is the coelacanth?
400
The taxonomic genus of the Giant Manta Ray.
What is Mobula?
400
The sensory receptors in the canal of the lateral line system of many fish.
What are neuromasts?
500
The genes that control head-to-tail development in the vertebrate chordates.
What are the homeotic/homeobox (Hox) genes?
500
The term for a fish that creates an egg case but carries it internally in the reproductive tract until it hatches.
What is ovoviviparity?
500
I am a cartilaginous fish with no caudal fin, no scales, and a single pair of lateral gill slits.
What is a chimaera?
500
The taxonomic order of the mackerel sharks, which includes the Great White.
What is Order Lamniformes?
500
The bony or cartilaginous structure that helps to filter out tiny food from the water that is brought into the mouth of some fish.
What are gill rakers?