Vertebrates are thought to have emerged during the Cambrian explosion around 520 million years ago, but the point in time at which these animals branched away from the phylum of chordata, which lack ...

And it’s from this pioneering creature that all known vertebrates descend ... half-a-billion-year-old fossil a the beginning of the phylum Chordata. That’s why it came as quite a surprise ...

All vertebrates – animals with backbones – are related. “Humans and fish aren’t close evolutionary cousins,” Siek said. “We’re part of the same phylum called Chordata. We share a ...

Sharks are fish, and fish belong to the same phylum as humans ... Still, fish are vertebrates like us, which means they have an endoskeleton. However, sharks have cartilage for bones.