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Biology vocabulary · Animal Biology and Physiology

Vertebrate

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ˈvɜːrtəbrət/nounCore term

In biology, vertebrate means: An animal with a backbone made of vertebrae, such as a fish, amphibian, reptile, bird or mammal.

In Turkish: omurgalı

How it is used

Used as a noun and as an adjective (vertebrate species, vertebrate evolution). Animals without a backbone are invertebrates, such as insects, worms and mollusks; they make up the large majority of animal species.

Example sentences

  1. Zebrafish are a popular vertebrate model for studying development.

  2. Fish were the first vertebrates to appear in the fossil record.

Common collocations

  • vertebrate species
  • vertebrate animal
  • invertebrate
  • vertebrate model
  • speciesA group of similar organisms that can breed with each other and produce fertile offspring. It is the basic unit used to classify living things.
  • taxonomyThe science of naming, describing and classifying organisms into groups based on their shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships.
  • neuronA nerve cell that carries information as electrical and chemical signals. It has dendrites that receive signals and an axon that passes them on.
  • model organismA species that is studied in great detail because it is easy to keep and breed in the lab, so that findings can help explain biology in other organisms.

More terms: Animal Biology and Physiology

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