Vertebrates are animals that are members of the
subphylum Vertebrata. Vertebrates include the overwhelming majority of the
phylum chordata, with currently about 64,000
species described.
Vertebrates include the
jawless fishes,
bony fishes,
sharks and
rays,
amphibians,
reptiles,
mammals, and
birds.
Extant vertebrates range in size from the
frog species
Paedophryne amauensis, at as little as 7.7 mm, to the
blue whale, at up to 33 m. Vertebrates make up about 4% of all described animal species; the rest are
invertebrates, which lack backbones.