The ventral aorta then distributes blood into the aortic arches that run upward into the visceral arches. Blood from the anterior aortic arches runs forward into the head to the internal carotid arteries. Blood from the posterior aortic arches runs into the dorsal aorta and posteriorly, and may branch into the vitelline or umbilical artery or any of the other intersegmental arteries. Blood then flows through the gills through collector loops, and then the oxygenated blood travels into the efferent bronchial arteries, which continue into the dorsal aorta. Rostrally the dorsal aorta brunches into the internal carotid arteries that supply oxygenated blood the head.
Tetrapods also lack the first and second aortic arches.
The carotid system of tetrapods carries blood to the head and is derived from the third aortic arches. The left branch of the fourth aortic arch becomes the arch of the aorta in mammals, while the right one becomes the subclavian arteries. The sixth aortic arch becomes the pulmonary arteries, which are derived from a common pulmonary trunk on the aorta. C. Posterior arteries The dorsal aorta is the large median longitudinal artery that extends posteriorly and eventually branches into the caudal artery. The celiac artery, which leads to the stomach, duodenum, liver and pancreas, and the mesenteric artery, which serves the remainder of the liver and the gut.