spinal cord runs through the center of the vertebral column.
spinal cord runs through the center of the vertebral column.
what runs through the center of the vertebral column?
spinal cord
vertebral column









































the vertebral column, also known as the backbone or spine, is part of the axial skeleton. the vertebral column is the defining characteristic of a vertebrate in which the notochord (a flexible rod of uniform composition) found in all chordates has been replaced by a segmented series of bone: vertebrae separated by intervertebral discs. the vertebral column houses the spinal canal, a cavity that encloses and protects the spinal cord.









































there are about 50,000 species of animals that have a vertebral column. the human vertebral column is one of the most-studied examples.









































section::::structure.
vertebral column
according to sulej (2007), the intercentra of cervical and thoracic vertebra are fully ossified. the pleurocentra are not preserved and no evidence is found that they were present as cartilages. the atlas, axis, and third and fourth cervical vertebrae are characteristic and similar to those in other stereospondyls. the morphology of the atlas, axis, and third and fourth vertebrae suggests that the neck of "metoposaurus" was relatively flexible. the intercentra of the region where the vertebral column contacts the shoulder girdle are flat anteriorly and posteriorly. the neural arches have almost vertically set prezygapophyses (vide postcervical vertebrae). this suggests that in this region the lateral bending of the vertebral column was very limited. it was probably connected through articulation of the vertebral column with the shoulder girdle. a stiffening of the vertebral column, in the region of contacting limbs, was apparently essential for swimming. he also describes that in "metoposaurus diagnosticus krasiejowensis", the parapophyses become shorter posteriorly, similarly to plagiosaurids. the intercentra of dorsal and sacral vertebrae are fully ossified and form quite short disks, not connected with the neural arches. in the dorsal and sacral region, they have anterior and posterior surfaces that are concave, or the posterior surface is almost flat. this condition resembles that in the trunk of plesiosaurs and, to some degree, the ichthyosaurs, confirming the aquatic mode of life.
metoposaurus