Hagfish
Videos
Hagfish, of the class Myxini and order Myxiniformes, are eel-shaped jawless fish. Hagfish are the only known living animals that have a skull but no vertebral column, however they do have rudimentary
Two views of the hagfish (Myxini glutinosa) with analytical overlays and dissection, published 1905
Pacific hagfish at 150 m depth, California, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
An Atlantic hagfish (Myxine glutinosa) using its slime to get away from a kitefin shark (Dalatias licha) and an Atlantic wreckfish (Polyprion americanus)
Pacific hagfish trying to hide under a rock
Chordate
Videos
A chordate is a bilaterian animal belonging to the phylum Chordata. All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five distinctive physical characteristics that distinguish
The glass catfish (Kryptopterus vitreolus) is one of the few chordates with a visible backbone. The spinal cord is housed within its backbone.
Cephalochordate: lancelet. Pictured species: Branchiostoma lanceolatum
sea squirts
A skeleton of the blue whale, the largest animal, extant or extinct, ever discovered. Mounted outside the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The largest blue whale ever reliably recorded measured 98ft (30m) long.