Cold-Blooded Vertebrate Flashcards
(26 cards)
Vertebrates
an animal of a large group distinguished by the possession of a backbone or spinal column, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.
Endotherms
an animal that is dependent on or capable of the internal generation of heat; a warm-blooded animal.
Ectotherms
an animal that is dependent on external sources of body heat.
Lateral Line
a visible line along the side of a fish consisting of a series of sense organs which detect pressure and vibration.
Gills
the paired respiratory organ of fishes and some amphibians, by which oxygen is extracted from water flowing over surfaces within or attached to the walls of the pharynx.
Jawless Fishes (2 examples)
are part of the the superclass Agnatha.
Cartilaginous Fishes (3 examples)
are jawed fish with paired fins, paired nostrils, scales, two-chambered hearts, and skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone.
Bony Fishes (3 examples)
The third type of fish, including eels and hagfish, is the group known as Agnatha, or jawless fish.
Swim Bladder
a gas-filled sac present in the body of many bony fishes, used to maintain and control buoyancy.
Amphibians
a cold-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that comprises the frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders.
Lungs
each of the pair of organs situated within the rib cage, consisting of elastic sacs with branching passages into which air is drawn, so that oxygen can pass into the blood and carbon dioxide be removed.
Tadpole
the tailed aquatic larva of an amphibian (frog, toad, newt, or salamander), breathing through gills and lacking legs until the later stages of its development.
Metamorphosis
the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.
Caecilians (description)
are a group of limbless, serpentine amphibians.
Salamanders (description)
are a group of amphibians typically characterized by a lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All present-day salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela.
Frogs (description)
are amphibians that are known for their jumping abilities, croaking sounds, bulging eyes and slimy skin.
Toads (description)
Like frogs, toads are amphibians. They differ from most frogs because they have dry skin, warts, crests behind the eyes, and parotoid glands.
Reptiles
are tetrapod animals in the class Reptilia, comprising today’s turtles, crocodilians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, tuatara, and their extinct relatives.
Amniotic Eggs
are a clade of tetrapod vertebrates comprising the reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Turtles (description)
are reptiles with hard shells that protect them from predators.
Tortoises (description)
A Tortoise is a land-dwelling reptile of the order Testudines.
A Tortoise is a land-dwelling reptile of the order Testudines.
which is of the order Testudines. Like their aquatic cousins, the turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell.
Alligators (description)
have between 74 and 80 teeth in their mouth at a time. … The American alligator is found in the United States from North Carolina to the Rio Grande in Texas.
Snakes (description)
Snakes are elongated, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes.
