Vertebrates comprise any species of
animals within the
subphylum Vertebrata (
chordates with
backbones). Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the
phylum Chordata, with currently about 64,000
species described. Vertebrates include the
jawless fish and the
jawed vertebrates, which includes the
cartilaginous fish (
sharks and
rays) and the
bony fish. A bony
fish clade known as the
lobe-finned fishes is included with
tetrapods, which are further divided into
amphibians,
reptiles,
mammals, and
birds.
Extant vertebrates range in size from the
frog species
Paedophryne amauensis, at as little as , to the
blue whale, at up to . Vertebrates make up about 4% of all described
animal species; the rest are
invertebrates, which lack
vertebral columns.