2. • Vertebrates are animals with endoskeletons
• Fish, frogs, snakes, birds, dogs and humans are all vertebrates, or animals with backbones.
• 5% of animal species are vertebrates.
• Vertebrate animals have muscles, digestive system, respiratory system, circulatory system, and a nervous system
with sensory organs.
• The characteristic that distinguishes vertebrates from other animals is the endoskeleton, internal support
system that grows along with the animal.
• Endoskeleton: Allow more flexibility and ways of moving.
• Vertebrates: Name for specialized bone called the vertebrate.
• Vertebrate is also called the backbone.
• Other bones such as ribs and skull protect organs such as heart, lungs, and brain.
3. • Most vertebrates are fish.
• Fish are the most diverse group of vertebrate animals.
• More than 20,000 species of fish.
• Fish that live in water where sunlight does not penetrate need special organs to help them find food.
• Most fish have an organ called a swim bladder, which allows them to control the depth at which they float.
• Fish have sensory organs for taste, sound, and odor.
• They have a sensory system unlike that of other vertebrates, an organ called a lateral line, allows fish to
sense vibrations from objects nearby.
• Fish remove oxygen form water with specialized respiratory organs called gills.
• The gills are usually located on the side of their head.
• In the gills oxygen dissolved by water moves into the fishes blood.
4. • Fish can be classified in 3 groups.
• Jawless fish, cartilaginous fish and bony fish.
• Jawless fish: Have tube shaped bodies, they don't have a stomach, they have no jaw bones, they don't
have teeth and can not chew.
• Jawless fish eat by biting into another animals body and sucking out flesh and fluids.
• Cartilaginous fish: Their skeletons are made of flexible tissue called cartilage.
• This groups includes sharks, rays and skates.
• Rays are flat bodied fish that live most of their life on the ocean floor.
• Whale sharks and basking sharks feed by filtering small organisms from the water as they swim.
• Bony fish: They have bony skeletons and are covered with scales.
• 96% of fish are bony fish.
• Scales: Overlapping bony structures on most fishes bodies.
• They have jaws teeth and several pairs of fins.
• The colors and body shapes of bony fish are adapted to their environment.
5. • Most young fish develop inside an egg.
• most fish species reproduce sexually.
• A female fish releases the eggs into the water and a male will fertilize them
• After the eggs are fertilized, the parent fish leaves the egg to develop and hatch on their own.
• For sharks, the food supply is called the yolk and the protective covering is called the egg case.
• Most fish eggs are surrounded by a soft egg case to let water pass through.
6. • What is an animal with an endoskeleton?
• A. Selena Gomez
• B. Lizard
• C.Vertebrate
• D. Invertebrate
7. • What are most vertebrates?
• A. Dogs
• B. Fish
• C. Adam Sandler
• D. Birds
8. • True or False, most fish reproduce sexually.
• A. True
• B. False
• C. Oprah
9. • True or False, 50% of fish are bony fish.
• A. True
• B. False
