COMPARATIVE

VERTEBRATE ANATOMY
By
Prof Gabriel S. Oladipo
OUTLINE

Nervous system
Respiratory system
Digestive system
 Nervous System
• In most animals, coordination is achieved
through two body systems: the endocrine
Classification of Cnidarians
system and the nervous system. • Anthozoa – almost completely sessile.
• The nervous system transmits fast-moving
signals through specialized nerve cells or Example – corals, sea anemones, sea
neurons. pens
• The most primitive form of nervous
system is the nerve net in which neurons
• Scyphozoa – swimming (true jellyfish)
are scattered roughly over the body. • Cubozoa – box jellies, possess complex
• Nerve net is seen in Cnidarians [Cnidarians
exhibit a specific characteristic – tentacles with stinging eyes and potent toxins
nematocytes which serve as small harpoons which react to
stimuli by giving out tiny stinging cells which can poison and hook
potential prey. Cnidarians do not show bones and a central • Hydrozoa – most diverse group with
nervous system, rather have a nerve net ] and
echinoderms.
hydroids, siphonophores, several
• In vertebrates, the nervous system is medusae, fire corals
dominated by the brain which controls and
coordinates all the body’s activities
• Echinoderms: Characterized by a hard, spiny covering or skin eg.
Crinoidea (sea lilies and feather stars), Echinoidea (sea urchins), Holothuroidea
(sea cucumbers), Asteroidea (starfishes, or sea stars), Ophiuroidea (basket stars
and serpent stars, or brittle stars), and Concentricycloide
Nervous System
Cont.
All vertebrates have a brain with three
main parts: Hindbrain, Midbrain and
Forebrain.
During the course of evolution, the
relative proportion of these brain regions
have altered considerably with its
functions.
The hindbrain is responsible for basic
involuntary functions such as breathing
however in birds and mammals it has
evolved to coordinate balance and
movement through the cerebellum
The forebrain in mammals has
undergone an explosive expansions with
several convolutions and folding forming
the cerebrum. This part seem to have
outgrown other parts of the brain making
up 85% of brain weight.
Nervous System Cont.
 Nervous System Cont.
• The cerebrum carries out a wide range of functions such
as seeing, hearing, smelling, voluntary movement,
storing and analyzing information.
• The sensory system helps the animal to sense changes
in the environment and react to them in an appropriate
way
• Humans have sense for vision, hearing, taste, smell,
touch, balance and equilibrium. Skin receptors that also
respond to cold and heat and internal receptors that
assess the temperature, pressure, and chemical
composition of blood.
 Nervous System
Cont.
Other animals have some
specialized senses that enable them
to survive in their environment. Ray: any of the cartilaginous
Sharks and Rays detect the weak fishes of the order Batoidei,
electrical fields that other animals
generate while snakes detect heat related to sharks and placed
given off by their prey.
with them in the class
Rattlesnakes can detect a Chondrichthyes. The order
temperature difference as low as
0.2°C due to a pair of heat sensitive includes 534 species. Rays are
pits on either sides of the head.
distinguished from sharks by a
Complex sense organs such as flattened, disklike body, with
vertebrate eye take millions of years
to develop from evolutionary the five gill openings and the
standpoint which may disappear
due to disuse as in cave mouth generally located on the
salamanders. Lateral lines enable underside.
fishes to detect pressure waves in
water but this has been completely
lost in land animals
 Respiratory
System
Cont.
This system helps animals extract
oxygen from the surrounding air or water
and get rid of waste gas carbon dioxide.
Respiratory organs are found both in land
and water animals however the different
environment necessitates different
systems
Gills are the most common respiratory
organ in aquatic animals. They are
outgrowths of the body. They extract
oxygen from water through tiny blood
vessels and take them round the body.
Gills rarely work on land because without
water, the flaps stick together and
collapse
Most land vertebrates use the lungs for
breathing.
 Respiratory
System Cont.
Reptiles and Mammals suck air into
the their lungs and then blow it out
again, but in birds the air travels
straight through the lungs in one
way flow.
Bird lungs are connected to a set of
air sacs that change shape to pump
the air, while the lungs stay the
same shape.
This unique system is an extremely
effective way of extracting oxygen
from the air, and it enables birds to
fly at high altitudes that would leave
mammals gasping for breathe.
 The Gills • The gills of fishes are supported by a
series of arches encased within a chamber
formed by bony plates (the operculum).
• A pair of gill of filaments projects from
Gills
each arch. The blood vessels passing
through the gill arches branch into the
filaments and then into still smaller
vessels ( capillaries) in the lamellae.
• Deoxygenated blood from the heart flows
in the lamellae in a direction counter to
that of the water flow across the exchange
surfaces
• This countercurrent flow of blood through
the lamellae in relation to the flow of
water has been found to aid the efficient
update of oxygen by the gills making it an
efficient respiratory organ
 • Embryologically, the lungs develop as an outgrowth of

The Lungs the anterior portion of the gut.

• The lungs proper is connected to the exterior through
tubes (trachea) and orifices (glottis). The air spaces
Respiratory system in frog where gas exchange occurs is the alveoli.
with large alveoli • The alveolus of frogs is 10 times the diameter of the
alveolus in humans
• Branchial respiration occurs in case of tadpoles or larval stage.
• Branchial respiration takes place by means of external gills.
• Respiration in adult frog occurs through 3 different ways:
• Cutaneous respiration: It takes place through moist surface of
outer skin.
• Buccal respiration: It takes place through lining of bucco-
pharyngeal cavity.
• Pulmonary respiration: It takes place through lungs.
• The lungs are able to function properly in vertebrates
such as birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals due to
the presence of surfactant that helps to maintain the
integrity of the lungs despite uneven forces that could
lead to the collapse of the alveolus. These surfactants
are produced by type ii pneumocytes.
Respiratory Organs

The Gills The Lungs

 The
Digestive • Digestion refers to the process of
System breaking down food substances into
absorbable micro molecules for the
Intracellular Digestion vs. Extracellular purpose of energy and body building
Digestion
• There are two types of digestion:
Intracellular and Extracellular
digestion.
• Intracellular digestion occurs inside
the cell and is seen commonly in
Protozoans
• Extracellular digestion is one in
which the food is broken down
outside the cell and the product is
absorbed into the cell for utilization.
All vertebrates use extracellular
digestion.
The Digestive
System Cont. • Evolutionary adaptation of the digestive
system has led to the development of the
Digestive System in Man
teeth which play an important role in food
collection and breaking down to smaller units
• When teeth are in form of tusks such as in
elephants, they can even be used as
instrument for digging to help bring food closer
to the mouth.
• The first stop after swallowing in most
carnivores and omnivores is the stomach
where acids and enzymes begin the
breakdown of food.
• The small intestine then further breakdown the
food into absorbable substances. The small
intestine also absorbs most of the useful
content of the food. The enzymes of the
digestive system come from the lining of the
intestines and the pancreas.
The Digestive System Cont.
• The last part of the digestive
system is the large intestine
where water reabsorption mostly
occurs before elimination of waste
through the anus
• Unlike mammals, birds do not
have teeth rather they have
gizzard where swallowed food is
grinded.
• Gizzards contain stones that help
in grinding food substances
• Gizzards are also found in
crocodiles and their relatives and
some insects
The Digestive System Cont.
 SUMMARY TABLE OF
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY
OF THE VERTEBRATE
SYSTEMS
 SYSTEM REPTILES AVES PISCES AMPHIBIANS MAMMALS

RESPIRATORY -Respiration is -Respiration is -Respiration is -Respiration is -Respiration is

SYSTEM performed by performed by lungs performed by performed by the skin, performed by lungs
lungs gills Bucco-pharyngeal
endings and lungs

-Lungs are not -Lungs are divisible

-Lungs are not divisible into lobes -Lungs are -Lungs are not divisible into lobes
divisible into lobes absent into lobes
-Larynx is poorly -Larynx has a pair of
-Larynx has paired developed and non- -Larynx and trachea vocal cord and their
functional vocal functional -Larynx is unite to form vibrations produce
cords absent laryngotracheal sound
chamber
-Larynx is supported -Larynx is supported
-Larynx is by the same Laryngo-tracheal by a four
supported by a cartilaginous plates, a -Larynx is chamber is supported cartilaginous
pair of arytenoids pair of arytenoids and absent by 3 cartilages; a plates.; Medium
and a median a median single cricoid and a pair of ventroatrial thyroid,
single cricoid cricoid cartilaginous lateral arytenoids. ring-like lower
cartilaginous plates. This is further cricoid, and a pair of
plates divided into 4 places dorsa arytenoids
of procricoids cartilage.
 SYSTEM REPTILES AVES PISCES AMPHIBIANS MAMMALS
SENSORY SYSTEM -Sensory ability to -Very acute sound -Sensory ability to -They are very -They have sensory
detect sound given recognition skills. detect weak sensitive to touch, ability to detect
off by the prey electrical fields that temperature, light, different kinds of
other animals humidity, etc. smell
generate.
-They have a poorly -Undefined sense of
developed senses of taste -They possess a -They possess a
taste -They have well-defined sense well-defined sense
heightened sense of of taste of taste
-Absence of ability -Sensitive to air taste
to detect pressure pressure
waves in water -Ability to detect -Inability to detect
-Visual sensory -Sensory ability to pressure waves in pressure waves in
ability is less -Have heightened detect pressure water water
compared to Birds visual sensory waves in water
ability -Visual sensory -Visual sensory
-Visual sensory ability is heightened ability is less
ability is less compared to Birds
compared to Birds
NERVOUS SYSTEM -Has a brain with -Same as Reptiles -Same as Reptiles -Same as Reptiles -Same as Reptiles
three main parts;
hindbrain, midbrain,
and forebrain

-Small forebrain -Small forebrain -Small forebrain -Large forebrain

-Small forebrain
-Cerebellum -Cerebellum did not -Cerebellum did not -Cerebellum
-Cerebellum did not expanded to expand expand expanded to
expand coordinate balance coordinate balance
and movement and movement
 SYSTEM REPTILES AVES PISCES AMPHIBIANS MAMMALS

GASTRO-INTESTINAL -Buccal cavity is narrow. -Buccal cavity is -Buccal cavity is -Buccal cavity is spacious. -Buccal cavity is a
SYSTEM narrow. narrow. spacious chamber.

-Tongue is attached -Tongue is retractable and -Tongue is highly

posteriorly to the floor of -Tongue is narrow, -Tongue is attached can be moved in different specialized, fleshy and
the buccal cavity triangular and fleshy. posteriorly to the floor directions. muscular. Can be
of the buccal cavity. moved in different
directions.
-Salivary glands are
absent. -Salivary glands are -Salivary glands are
present. present.
-Crop is present. -Crop is absent.
-Crop is used to grind -Crop is absent. -Teeth is used to grind
food. food.
Practice Questions
• Compare and contrast the anatomy of the skull of Man, Whale and
horse.
• Discuss the digestive system of vertebrates. Make a note of the salient
variations between them
• Explain evolutionary adaption in vertebrates using the anatomy of the
heart and the various respiratory apparatus
• Compare and contrast the anatomy of the brain of Frog, Lizard and
Rabbit
• Justify the theory of evolution and mutation using the reproductive
system of vertebrates