A chordate is a phylum that is probably the most popular. It is most popular because it is the phylum most associated with humans. A Chordate animal has many similar characteristics to the traits of a human. Many of the traits a human has they may not possess as a human body, but may have possessed as an embryo. For example, chordates have a norto chord that are beneath the nerve chord and supply support to it. Also, humans along with other chordate’s posses the dorsal nerve cords because it helps connect the brain to other organisms in the body in order to function properly. Furthermore, pharyngeal slits are opening between the mouth and the back of the neck used as gills prodominantly for the fish that are of chordate. Chordate has characteristics that are found in humans and in many other animals that share this same phylum.