{"id":245,"date":"2015-04-07T17:48:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T17:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/biology2xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=245"},"modified":"2015-07-06T22:59:54","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T22:59:54","slug":"introduction-to-invertebrates","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-biology2\/chapter\/introduction-to-invertebrates\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction to Invertebrates","rendered":"Introduction to Invertebrates"},"content":{"raw":"A brief look at any magazine pertaining to our natural world, such as\u00a0National Geographic<\/em>, would show a rich variety of vertebrates, especially mammals and birds. To most people, these are the animals that attract our attention. Concentrating on vertebrates, however, gives us a rather biased and limited view of biodiversity, because it ignores nearly 97 percent of the animal kingdom, namely the invertebrates. Invertebrate animals are those without a cranium and defined vertebral column or spine. In addition to lacking a spine, most invertebrates also lack an endoskeleton. A large number of invertebrates are aquatic animals, and scientific research suggests that many of the world\u2019s species are aquatic invertebrates that have not yet been documented.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"700\"]\"The Figure 1. Nearly 97 percent of animal species are invertebrates, including this sea star (Astropecten articulates) common to the eastern and southern coasts of the United States (credit: modification of work by Mark Walz)[\/caption]","rendered":"

A brief look at any magazine pertaining to our natural world, such as\u00a0National Geographic<\/em>, would show a rich variety of vertebrates, especially mammals and birds. To most people, these are the animals that attract our attention. Concentrating on vertebrates, however, gives us a rather biased and limited view of biodiversity, because it ignores nearly 97 percent of the animal kingdom, namely the invertebrates. Invertebrate animals are those without a cranium and defined vertebral column or spine. In addition to lacking a spine, most invertebrates also lack an endoskeleton. A large number of invertebrates are aquatic animals, and scientific research suggests that many of the world\u2019s species are aquatic invertebrates that have not yet been documented.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Figure 1. Nearly 97 percent of animal species are invertebrates, including this sea star (Astropecten articulates) common to the eastern and southern coasts of the United States (credit: modification of work by Mark Walz)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t

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