By Jon Zahourek Vertebrate Anatomy is a System of Subsystems The key to vertebrate movement is the axial subsystem. If you own a “backbone,” you’re a vertebrate. Vertebrates represent the vast majority of the phylum Chordata. There are 69,963 species including our ancestral jawless fishes, tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). The same axial subsystem can be seen in all these species, and for that matter, that consistency has been the key to vertebrates for ov

By Jon Zahourek We vertebrates depend on our anatomy to be alive. Once our ancestral fish developed jaws and fins, our anatomy can be described as composed of five functional organ systems. First, our digestive system, contained in its own sac within our bodies, digests food to fuel our metabolism. Second, our lungs, also contained in its own separate sac, extracts oxygen from our environment in exchange for carbon dioxide. Third, our heart circulates the energy through tubin