Question

What is the main difference between a notochord and a nerve cord?

Answer 1

Notochord is an ensheathed flexible rod of turgid cells located along the back of chordate embryos and some primitive chordates ventral to the nerve cord It provides attachment to muscles. Notochord has given rise to jointed axial skeleton of cranium and vertebral column. Nerve cord is a collection of nerve fibres that runs throughout the length of an animal. It is hollow and dorsal in chordates where it gets modified into central nervous system of brain and spinal cord. Nerve cord is solid and ventral in nonchordates.