Question

Give general characters of phylum chordata and classify Labeo with reasons.

Answer 1

The general features of the phylum Chordata are as follows:

1. They possess a hollow tube called notochord, at least at some point of their life cycle.

2. They have a hollow dorsal nerve cord.

3. The heart is ventrally located.

4. The circulatory system is closed.

5. They show the presence of post-anal tail.

6. The pharyngeal gills slits are present in all during the embryonic development.

Labeo is classified under

Kingdom Animalia for being multicellular eukaryotic and heterotrophic, cell lacking the cell wall.

Phylum Chordata as the notochord is present in some stage of the life cycle.

Sub-phylum Vertebrata due to the presence of the vertebral column.

Super-class Pisces- Cold-blooded, gills bearing fishes

Class Osteichthyes for having bony endoskeleton, presence of air bladder and absence of cloaca.