WHAT IS AN ANIMAL?
Animals are divided by body plan into vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrates—fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals—have a vertebral column (spine); invertebrates do not. All vertebrates and most invertebrates are bilaterally symmetrical (Bilateria). Invertebrates include arthropods, molluscs, roundworms, ringed worms, flatworms, and other phyla in Ecdysozoa and Spiralia. Echinoderm larvae are initially bilaterally symmetrical, but later as adults develop radial symmetry; Cnidarians are radially symmetrical; ctenophores are biradially symmetrical; and sponges have no symmetry.
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