The progression of the dorsal aorta over time, from its initial formation to the mature structure. The dorsal aorta is a blood vessel in a single-pass circulatory system that carries oxygenated blood from the gills to the rest of the body. In a single-pass circulatory system blood passes once through the heart to supply the body once. [ GOC:dgh GOC:bf ZFA:0000014 http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0005805 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aorta ]