Because of the presence of a skull or cranium, vertebrates are referred to as craniates. Craniata chordates include the more familiar chordates such as fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Are craniates and vertebrates the same?

Formerly distinct from vertebrates by excluding hagfish, molecular and anatomical research in the 21st century has led to the reinclusion of hagfish, making living craniates synonymous with living vertebrates. ... The clade was thus composed of the Myxini and the vertebrates, and any extinct chordates with skulls.

What does the term craniates mean?

Noun. 1. craniate - animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium. vertebrate. fetus, foetus - an unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development showing the main recognizable features of the mature animal.