Taxa

Chordata

Phylum

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Chordata." Accessed September 8, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/phylum-chordata.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Chordata. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/phylum-chordata

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-chordata,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Chordata},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/phylum-chordata},
  note = {Accessed September 8, 2026}
}

Animals that possess, at some stage of development, a notochord, a dorsal nerve cord and pharyngeal slits; in vertebrates the notochord is replaced by a backbone. Chordata includes every fish, amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal, along with the less familiar sea squirts and lancelets that retain the phylum's ancestral body plan.

Facts

Disputed

Member Species/Taxa Count

65,000 1

Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.

Taxonomic Rank

Phylum / Division 1

Scientific Name

Chordata 1

Cross-Tradition Connections