Vertebrate
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Vertebrates, also called craniates, are animals with a vertebral column and a cranium. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain.
Fossilized skeleton (cast) of Diplodocus carnegii, showing an extreme example of the vertebral column that gives the vertebrates their name. The species is a tetrapod, its four legs adapting the fish-like body plan for walking on land. The specimen is 26 m (85 ft) long.
Branchial arches bearing gills in a pike
The Cambrian Haikouichthys, 518 mya
Acanthostega, a Devonian labyrinthodont, c. 365 mya
Branchial arch
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Branchial arches or gill arches are a series of paired bony/cartilaginous "loops" behind the throat of fish, which support the fish gills. As chordates, all vertebrate embryos develop pharyngeal arche
Antennarius striatus