Pisces

(Fishes)
Course code: AEB 302.1
Course title: Protochordates and Chordates Biology

Dr Gentle Wilson Komi

 INTRODUCTION
• The term "fish" most precisely describes any non-tetrapod craniate
(i.e. an animal with a skull and in most cases a backbone) that has
gills throughout life and whose limbs, if any, are in the shape of
fins.
• They are aquatic vertebrates whose ancestors were also aquatic.
• There are three living classes and one extinct class of fish.
• Most fish are ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), allowing their body
temperatures to vary as ambient temperatures change
• Some of the large active swimmers like white shark and tuna can
hold a higher core temperature
• Acoustic communication in fish involves the transmission of acoustic signals
from one individual of a species to another
• The production of sounds as a means of communication among fish is most
often used in the context of feeding, aggression or courtship behaviour
• Fish are abundant in most bodies of water
• They can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from
• high mountain streams (e.g., char and gudgeon) to
• the abyssal and even
• hadal depths of the deepest oceans (e.g., gulpers and anglerfish), although
no species has yet been documented in the deepest 25% of the ocean.
• With 33,600 described species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any
other group of vertebrates.
The anatomy of Lampanyctodes hectoris (Source: Vector version available CC-BY-SA-1.0)

(1) – operculum (gill cover), (2) – lateral line, (3) – dorsal fin, (4) – fat fin, (5) – caudal
peduncle, (6) – caudal fin, (7) – anal fin, (8) – photophores, (9) – pelvic fins (paired), (10) –
pectoral fins (paired)
 Taxonomy
• Traditional classification divides fish into three extant classes, and
with extinct forms sometimes classified within the tree, sometimes
as their own classes:
• Class Agnatha (jawless fish)
o Subclass Cyclostomata (hagfish and lampreys)
o Subclass Ostracodermi (armoured jawless fish) †
• Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish)
o Subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays)
o Subclass Holocephali (chimaeras and extinct relatives)
• Class Placodermi (armoured fish) †
• Class Acanthodii ("spiny sharks", sometimes classified under
bony fishes)†
• Class Osteichthyes (bony fish)
o Subclass Actinopterygii (ray finned fishes)
o Subclass Sarcopterygii (fleshy finned fishes, ancestors of
tetrapods)
o Agnathans are ancestral to Chondrichthyes, who again have
given rise to Acanthodiians, the ancestors of Osteichthyes.
• † – indicates extinct taxon
Evolution
• Early fish from the fossil record are represented by a group of
small, jawless, armored fish known as ostracoderms.

• Jawless fish lineages are mostly extinct.

• An extant clade, the lampreys may approximate ancient pre-

jawed fish. The first jaws are found in Placodermi fossils.

• The diversity of jawed vertebrates may indicate the evolutionary

advantage of a jawed mouth.
• It is unclear if the advantage of a hinged jaw is greater biting force,
improved respiration, or a combination of factors.
• Fish may have evolved from a creature similar to a coral-like sea
squirt, whose larvae resemble primitive fish in important ways.
Cartilaginous Fishes

• The ancestral Chondrichthyes were essentially shark-like in body

shape but the structure of their fins and jaws suggests that they
were not as efficient in swimming and feeding as are contemporary
species.
• In their subsequent evolution, the cartilaginous fishes have
diverged widely and have become adapted to many modes of
life within the aquatic environment.

• One line of evolution (subclass Holocephali) has led to our

present day rather rare, deep-water ratfish (Chimaera).

• In these fishes, the gill slits are covered by an operculum, so

there is a common external orifice and the tail is long and rat-
like.
• The other line of evolution (subclass Elasmobranchii) is
distinguished by having separate external openings for each gill
slit.
• Elasmobranchs have been far more successful and have
diverged into two contemporary orders-Selachii (sharks and
dogfish) and Batoidea (skates and rays)
• Order Selachii

• Sharks
• Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a
cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the
head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head.
• Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorpha
(or Selachii) and are the sister group to the rays.
• Under this broader definition, the earliest known sharks date
back to more than 420 million years ago.
• Acanthodians are often referred to as "spiny sharks"; though
they are not part of Chondrichthyes proper, they are a
paraphyletic assemblage leading to cartilaginous fish as a whole.
• Since then, sharks have diversified into over 500 species.
• They range in size from the small dwarf lanternshark (Etmopterus
perryi), a deep sea species of only 17 centimetres (6.7 in) in
length, to the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the largest fish in
the world, which reaches approximately 12 metres (40 ft) in
length.
• These large creatures have minute teeth and feeds entirely upon
small crustaceans and other organisms that form the drifting
plankton.
• Sharks are found in all seas and are common to depths of 2,000
metres (6,600 ft).
• They generally do not live in freshwater although there are a
few known exceptions, such as the bull shark and the river
shark, which can be found in both seawater and freshwater.
• Sharks have a covering of dermal denticles that protects their
skin from damage and parasites in addition to improving their
fluid dynamics.
• They have numerous sets of replaceable teeth.
• Well-known species such as the great white shark, tiger shark,
blue shark, mako shark, thresher shark, and hammerhead shark
are apex predators—organisms at the top of their underwater
food chain.
• Many shark populations are threatened by human activities.
• Order Batoidea

• Skates and Rays

• Most skate and rays are bottom dwelling fishes that are
flattened dorsal-ventrally and have enormous pectoral fins
whose undulations propel the fish along the bottom.

• Their mouth is often buried in the sand and mud, and water for
respiration enters the pharynx via the pair of enlarged spiracles.

•
• A spiracle valve in one is then closed and the water is forced
out the typical gill slits.
• Most skates and rays have crushing teeth and feed upon shell
fish, but others are adapted to other methods of feeding.
• The Sawfish (Pristis) has an elongated blade-shaped snout
armed with tooth-like scales.
• Bony fishes

• The acanthodians were characterized by having a prominent

supporting spine at the anterior edge of the dorsal, anal and
paired fins.

• Often, there were more than two pairs of paired fins.

Acanthodians were the earliest of the bony fishes, and it is
possible that other lines of bony fish evolution were derived from
them.
• They flourished during the Devonian period but were replaced
by more progressive types by the end of Paleozoic era.
• Other bony fishes are usually grouped into the subclasses
Actinopterigii and Sarcopterygii.
• Subclass Actinopterygii
• Actinopterygians are the familiar ray-finned fishes, such as the
perch.
• Their paired fins are fan-shaped.
• Skeletal elements enter their base, but most of the fin is
supported by numerous dermal rays that evolved from rows of
bony scales.
• Their paired olfactory sacs connect only with the outside and not
with the mouth cavity.
• Actinopterygian evolution presents a good example of a
succession in which early dominant groups became replaced by
more successful types.
• Most authorities recognize three infra-classes; and each in
turn, had its day.
• Currently, the infraclasses Chondrostei had dwindled to a few
species of which the Nile bichir (Polypterus) and the sturgeon
(Scaphirhynchus) are examples.
• The infraclass Holostei has also dwindled and is represented today
by such relict species as the gar (Lepisosteus) and bowfin (Amia).

• The infraclass Teleostei, in contrast, has been continuously

expanding since its origin in the Mesozoic era.

• It is to this group that the minnows, perch and most familiar fishes
belong.
• Various evolutionary tendencies can be traced through this
succession, most of which are related to improvements in
locomotion and feeding.
• The vertebrae column became more thoroughly ossified and
stronger, thereby, providing a better attachment for powerful
axial muscles.
• The functional lungs of early actinopterygians became
transformed into swim bladders with little respiratory functions.
• In connection with increased buoyancy and better streamlining,
we find that the primitive heterocercal tail of most
chondrosteans became superficially symmetrical in teleosts, but
the caudal skeleton still shows the upward tilt of the vertebral
column.
• Early actinopterygians were covered with thick bony scales of
the ganoid type.
• During subsequent evolution, the scales became thinner and
lighter.
• Superficial layers were lost and the bone was reduced to a thin
disc that develops in the dermis of the skin.
• Such a scale is termed cycloid if its surface is smooth,
ctenoid, if the posterior portion bears minute spiny processes.
• As the fish grows, increments of bone are added to the scale
and these appear as rings or circuli.
• Improvements in the feeding mechanisms are reflected in the
shortening of the mouth and forward shifting of the jaw joints.
• The jaws become shorter and develop a more powerful bite
• The more primitive teleost, the tarpons and herrings, are
characterized by having
• elongate streamlined bodies,
• a single dorsal fin,
• pelvic fins located near the posterior part of the trunk,
• fins supported by flexible and branching bony rays rather than by
spines,
• cycloid scales covering the tail and trunk but not extending unto the
head, and
 • an air or pneumatic duct connecting the swim bladder and digestive
track.
• The jaws are short but do not extend forward when the mouth is
opened.
• The most advanced are the spiny-finned teleosts such as the
sunny fishes and perch.
• These are often rather short and deep-bodied (from dorsal to ventral)
fishes.
• There is a tendency for the dorsal fin to split into two parts, the
anterior being supported by spines, the posterior by flexible bony rays.
• The pelvic fins have shifted forward to a point beneath the pectoral
fins, and spines are present in the anterior border of these fins.
 • The scale has become ctenoid and has extended onto the head and gill
covering.
• The pneumatic duct is lost.
• The jaws are highly specialized and protrude rapidly as the mouth
opens.
• This and the attendant expansion of the buccal and pharyngeal
cavities create suction that helps draw food into the mouth.
Subclass: Sarcopterygii
• Sarcopterygians
• The sarcopterygians include the lung fishes and
crossopterygians.
• Their paired appendages are typically elongate and lobe-shaped
and are supported internally by an axis of flesh and bone.
• In many species each of the olfactory sacs connects to the body
surface through an external nostril and to the front part of the
roof of the mouth cavity through and internal nostril.
• Sarcopterygian evolution diverged at an early time into two
lines- the lungfishes (order Dipnoi) and the crossopterygians
(order Crossopterygii).
• The primitive crossopterygians had a well- ossified internal
skeleton, a unique jointed chondrocranium and small conical
teeth suited for seizing prey.
• It is from this group that the amphibians arose.
• Lungfishes (order Dipnoi) have had a weak skeleton and with
little ossification of the vertebral column throughout their
evolutionary history.
• They develop specialized crushing tooth plates which enable
them to feed effectively upon shellfish and showed tendencies
towards reduction of the paired appendages.
 Diversity
• Unlike groupings such as birds or mammals, fish are not a single
clade but a paraphyletic collection of taxa, including
• hagfishes,
• lampreys,
• sharks and
• rays,
• ray-finned fish,
• coelacanths, and
• lungfish.
• Indeed, lungfish and coelacanths are closer relatives of tetrapods
(such as mammals, birds, amphibians, etc.) than of other fish such
as ray-finned fish or sharks, so the last common ancestor of all fish
is also an ancestor to tetrapods.
Crossopterigeans: Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae)
 coelacant
h

Protopterus annectens brieni

Polypterus senegalus bichir
• Many types of aquatic animals commonly referred to as "fish"
are not fish in the sense given above; examples include
shellfish, cuttlefish, starfish, crayfish and jellyfish.
• In earlier times, even biologists did not make a distinction –
sixteenth century natural historians classified also seals, whales,
amphibians, crocodiles, even hippopotamuses, as well as a host
of aquatic invertebrates, as fish.
• However, according to the definition above, all mammals,
including cetaceans like whales and dolphins, are not fish.
• In some contexts, especially in aquaculture, the true fish are
referred to as finfish (or fin fish) to distinguish them from
these other animals.
• A relative of the seahorses, the leafy seadragon's appendages
allow it to camouflage (in the form of crypsis) with the
surrounding seaweed.
 Ventral and dorsal views of ray fish
Leafy seadragon
• Body shape and the arrangement of the fins is highly variable,
covering such seemingly un-fishlike forms as seahorses,
pufferfish, anglerfish, and gulpers.
• Similarly, the surface of the skin may be naked (as in moray
eels), or covered with scales of a variety of different types
usually defined as
• placoid (typical of sharks and rays),
• cosmoid (fossil lungfish and coelacanths),
• ganoid (various fossil fish but also living gars and bichirs),
• cycloid, and
• ctenoid (these last two are found on most bony fish).
• There are even fish that live mostly on land or lay their eggs on
land near water.
• Mudskippers feed and interact with one another on mudflats
and go underwater to hide in their burrows
• Hagfish and Lampreys
•No paired pectoral (shoulder) or pelvic (hip) fins
•Notochord persists for life.
•They have no scales.
•The axons of their neurons are unmyelinated.
•Lampreys have both an innate immune system and an adaptive immune
system, but the latter is entirely different from that found in the jawed
vertebrates.
Hagfish
•Eat dead fish
•Secrete copious amounts of thick slime (mucous)
•Live in deep oceanic trenches (>100meters)
• -Gland
•No pineal gland
•Photoreceptors synapse directly onto ganglion cells

• Hagfishes are found in cold seawater, to depths of about 1,300 m

(4,260 feet). They live on soft bottoms, in burrows, and habitually lie
buried except for the tip of the head.
Hagfish contd
• Their diet includes marine invertebrates and dead or crippled fishes.
• Sometimes, to the detriment of fishermen, hagfishes attack fish
caught on lines or in nets, boring their way into the bodies and eating
the fish from the inside.
• To deter predators, hagfish have special pores along the body that
secrete copious amounts of slime.
• For this reason, they are sometimes known as slime eels.
•
Lamprey
•Larval form to adult form: Five Years!
•Mostly buried in mud
•No lens initially
•Larva details
–Similar to hagfish eye
–Eye covered in skin
• The skeleton of a lamprey consists of cartilage; the mouth is a
round sucking aperture provided with horny teeth. The Lamprey
sucks the blood and bits of tissue. It has special oral glands that
secret an anticoagulant that keeps the blood flowing freely.
 Lamprey contd
• Lampreys begin life as burrowing freshwater larvae (ammocoetes).
• At this stage, they are toothless, have rudimentary eyes, and feed on
microorganisms.
• After several years, they transform into adults and typically move into
the sea to begin a parasitic life, attaching to a fish by their mouths and
feeding on the blood and tissues of the host.
• To reproduce, lampreys return to freshwater, build a nest, then spawn
(lay their eggs) and die.
• Not all lampreys spend time in the sea.
• Some are landlocked and remain in fresh water.
• A notable example is a landlocked race of the sea lamprey
(Petromyzon marinus).
Lamprey contd
• This form entered the Great Lakes of North America and,
because of its parasitic habits, had a disastrous killing influence
on lake trout and other commercially valuable fishes before
control measures were devised.
• Other lampreys, such as the brook lamprey (Lampetra planeri),
also spend their entire lives in fresh water.
• They are nonparasitic, however, and do not feed after becoming
adults; instead, they reproduce and die.
Air breathing

• Fish from multiple groups can live out of the water for extended
periods.
• Amphibious fish such as the mudskipper can live and move
about on land for up to several days,] or live in stagnant or
otherwise oxygen depleted water.
• Many such fish can breathe air via a variety of mechanisms. The
skin of anguillid eels may absorb oxygen directly.
• The buccal cavity of the electric eel may breathe air. Catfish of
the families Loricariidae, Callichthyidae, and Scoloplacidae
absorb air through their digestive tracts.
Air breathing cond
• Lungfish, with the exception of the Australian lungfish, and
bichirs have paired lungs similar to those of tetrapods and must
surface to gulp fresh air through the mouth and pass spent air
out through the gills.
• Gar and bowfin have a vascularized swim bladder that functions
in the same way.
• Loaches, trahiras, and many catfish breathe by passing air
through the gut.
• Mudskippers breathe by absorbing oxygen across the skin
(similar to frogs).
• A number of fish have evolved so-called accessory breathing
organs that extract oxygen from the air.
• Labyrinth fish (such as gouramis and bettas) have a labyrinth
organ above the gills that performs this function.
• A few other fish have structures resembling labyrinth organs in
form and function, most notably snakeheads, pikeheads, and
the Clariidae catfish family.
• Breathing air is primarily of use to fish that inhabit shallow,
seasonally variable waters where the water's oxygen
concentration may seasonally decline.
• Fish dependent solely on dissolved oxygen, such as perch and
cichlids, quickly suffocate, while air-breathers survive for much
longer, in some cases in water that is little more than wet mud.
• At the most extreme, some air-breathing fish are able to survive
in damp burrows for weeks without water, entering a state of
aestivation (summertime hibernation) until water returns.
• Air breathing fish can be divided into obligate air breathers and
facultative air breathers.
Air breathing cond
• Obligate air breathers, such as the African lungfish, must
breathe air periodically or they suffocate.
• Facultative air breathers, such as the catfish Hypostomus
plecostomus, only breathe air if they need to and will otherwise
rely on their gills for oxygen.
• Most air breathing fish are facultative air breathers that avoid
the energetic cost of rising to the surface and the fitness cost of
exposure to surface predators.
Fish Evolution
Geological Time Scale
Thank you for your audience
 AMPHIBIANS

Course code: AEB 302.1

Course title: Protochordates and Chordates Biology

Dr Gentle Wilson Komi

• Amphibian is a class of vertebrate that include frogs, toads,
salamanders, caecilians, etc.
• The word amphibian is a Greek word which means; Amphi
(double), bios (life). That is amphibians have a double life
• The amphibians were the first vertebrates to explore land
(terrestrial) life
• The transition from water to land involved many anatomical as
well as physiological changes which occur during
metamorphosis
• The egg and the larva of amphibians are well adapted to water
while the adult lives mainly on land
• The retention of most of the characteristics of fish have made
most species of amphibians to retain their aquatic life
Characteristics Of Amphibians

1. Amphibians are cold blooded animal (ectothermic)

2. Unlike the fishes, Amphibians possess movable eyelid and tear glands that
cleanse the eyes.
3. They have urinary bladder and most of the nitrogenous waste is excreted
as urea.
4. They have muscular and a protrusible tongue and a well-developed
alimentary canal
5. Gaseous exchange in amphibians is through the moist skin, and lungs
which replaces the gills of the larva stage.
6. The cardiovascular system of the amphibians is well developed for easy
blood circulation.
Characteristics contd
7. The skeletal system of amphibian is well developed and rigid
but it is quite flexible for easy movement
8. The skin of amphibians is well cornified but it still remains
permeable to water
9. The mucus glands of amphibians are numerous
10. Fertilization in amphibians is external as the male lack
copulatory organs
11. Most amphibians are oviparous i.e they lay egg.
 Evolution of Amphibians
• Amphibians evolved from fishes living in fresh water
• Life on land is quite different from life in water and the movement of
vertebrate to land took a very long time to happen.
• The problems which land pose on the early amphibians include the
following:
1. Oxygen on land needs a different method for tapping unlike in water
where fish acquires oxygen with gills
2. Air cannot give much resistance to the organisms as water and
organism need develop a good muscular system
3. Air cannot provide enough water and salt as organisms on land are
prone to desiccate
4. Means of movement on land is quite different from that in
water and organisms need to develop means of movement on
land
5. Means of sensation in water is also different from means of
sensation on land with all these limitations, the movement of
organisms from water to land took a long time
• For this movement to be made possible, the organisms need to
develop features that can make them survive easily on land
• The first organisms that moved from water to land are the
crossopterigeans
Crossopterigeans: Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae)
Some of the features include the following:
1. The amphibians develop lung which enables them to respire on
land
2. They also develop a very strong muscular and skeletal system
to enable them support their body weight on land
3. The epithelia of their skin become cornified to reduce the
amount of water that is lost through the skin
4. The amphibians also start developing a means of reproduction
on land via direct development, which is an ecological and
evolutionary advancement
• They did not intentionally move to land but due to drought, they
started developing all the characteristics that enabled them survive
on land
• They developed lungs, to be able to acquire oxygen on land
• They also developed lobed fins which enabled them to squirm from
one pound to the other, and also developed means of conserving
body water.
• Development of those features was only to make them feed,
reproduce and survive all through the drought and after the drought
some of the crossopterygeans returned to water while some like the
labyrinthodonts (early amphibians) started to spend most of their life
on land and they are the ancestors of the modern amphibians
• Limitations of Amphibians Adaptation on Land
• Amphibians could not develop all the adaptive features that will make
them to live on land throughout their lives. Such limitations include:
• They cannot conserve enough water even though they are having a
partially cornified skin, they are unable to regulate fluctuations in body
temperatures.
• The male does not have copulatory organ and water is needed for
reproduction.
• All of these features are what makes the amphibians to live some of their
life in water to overcome the challenges posed on them by the failure to
develop all the features they needed to stay on land
• In an attempt to overcome the challenges, the amphibians also develop
the following ways of life:
• Hibernation: occurs when the environmental temperature falls below normal
during winter. This protects the organism from cold thus the organisms enter into a
dormant state
• During hibernation, the amphibians usually bury themselves in the mud, at the
bottom of pond or burrows into soft ground and the only food they utilize is the
food they have stored in their body
• Aestivation: During the hottest and driest part of the years, the amphibians also
go into dormant state
• The aim is to protect the animal from high temperatures and drought
• Classification of Amphibians
• The subclasses and orders of amphibians are:
1. Subclass Labyrinthodont (extinct)
• Order Temnospondyl (extinct)
2. Subclass Lepospondyl (extinct)
3. Subclass Lissamphibia
• Order Anura e.g toad and frogs
•Order Caudata or Urodela e.g. salamanders
• Order Gymnophiona or Apoda e.g. caecilians
ORDER ANURA:

• Examples of this order of amphibians are the toads and frogs.

• Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of shortbodied, tailess

amphibians composing of the order Anura. Anura is a Greek word which
means without tail (an-without + oura-tail).

• The oldest fossil (proto frog) appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar but
their origin may extend further back to the Permian (265 million years ago).

• Frogs are widely distributed ranging from the tropics to the subarctic regions
but the greatest concentration of species diversity is found in the tropical rain
forest.
• The body plan of an adult frog is generally characterized by a stout body,
protruding eyes, cleft tongue, limbs folded and absence of a tail.

• Beside living in fresh water and on dry land, the adult of some species are
adapted to living underground or in trees.

• The skin of frog is glandular with secretions ranging from distasteful to toxic.
Their skin varies in colour from well camouflaged dappled brown, grey and
green to vivid patterns of bright red, or yellow and black to advertise toxicity
and warn off predators.

• Frogs typically lay their eggs in water. The eggs hatch into aquatic larvae
called tadpoles which have tails and internal gills. They have highly
specialized mouth parts suitable for herbivorous, omnivorous or planktivorous
diet. The life cycle is completed when they metamorphose into adult.
• A few species deposits their eggs on land and bypasses the tadpole stage

• All members of the order Anura are frogs but only the members of the family
BUFONIDAE are considered as true toads

• The use of the term “frog” in common names refers to species that are aquatic
or semi-aquatic and have smooth, moist skin, while the term toad generally
refers to species that are terrestrial with dry, warty skin

• There are exceptions to this rule:

• The European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) has a slightly warty skin and
prefers to live in watery habitat whereas, the Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus
zeteki) is in the toad family Bufonidae and has a smooth skin
• Some species of anurans hybridize readily for instance, the edible frog
(Relophylax esculentus) is a hybrid between pool frog (Relophylax lessonac) and
march frog (Relophylax ridibundus)
• ORDER GYMNOPHIONA (APODA):

• Caecilian is a Latin word; caecus means blind (referring to small or sometimes

non-existence of eyes) A very good example of this order is the caecilians.

• They completely lack limbs making smaller species to resemble worm, while
larger species with length up to 1.5m resembles snakes. Their tail is short or
absent

• Their skin is smooth and usually dark, but some species have colourful skin,
inside the skin are calate scales

• The skin also has numerous ring shaped folds or annuli that partially encircles
the body giving them a segmented appearance
• Their vision is limited to dark-light perception and their anatomy is highly
adapted for burrowing life
• Caecilians are found in wet tropical regions of Southeast Asia, India, Bangladesh
and Srilanka, part of East and West Africa. In Africa, Caecilian is found in Guinea-
Bissau to Southern Malawi
• ORDER CAUDATA (URODELA):

• A very good example of this order is the salamander. Salamanders are typically
characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, short
nose, and long tail

• Most salamanders have four toes on their front legs and five toes on their rear
legs
• Their moist skin usually make them relient on habitats in or
near water or under some protection e.g moist ground, often in
a wetland
• Some salamander species are fully aquatic throughout life,
some take to the water intermittently, and some are entirely
terrestrial as adult
• They are very unique among vertebrates, they are capable of
regenerating lost limb as well as other parts of the body
• Many of the members of the family salamandridae are known
as newts
• Physical Characteristics
• Mature salamanders generally have a basal tetrapod body
formed with a cylindrical trunk, four limbs and a long tail
• Some species such as sirens and amphiumas have reduced or
absent hindlimb giving them a more eel-like appearance
• Feeding
• Terrestrial salamander catch their prey by rapidly extending a
sticky tongue which adheres to the prey, allowing it to be pulled
into the mouth
• They have small teeth with which they grasps and secure the
prey
REPTILES
INTRODUCTION
• Reptiles are vertebrate animals, possessing a bony skeleton like humans
• They breathe by means of lungs and their body is covered with tough
dry scaly (cornified) skin for protection against desiccation and physical
injury
• Their limbs are suited for rapid locomotion (creeping) on land
• Their nervous system is more advanced than that of the amphibians.
• They are ectothermic and typically lay eggs
• The reptiles evolved from the amphibians and show only little structural
advancement over the ancient group of the amphibians
• However the development of a new method of reproduction and egg
formation allowed them to make full transition to land life without
returning to water thus by-passing the larval stages
• They are the true land tetrapods
• Fishes and amphibians fertilize their eggs externally
(anamniotes) but reptiles have internal fertilization with some
form of copulatory organs,hence they lay fewer eggs
• The reptile egg is called cleidoic or amniotic or shelled egg
having large yolk with protective extra embryonic membranes
and tough leathery (calcerous) shell
• Because the amniotic egg was so successful, it has been
retained in the same basic anatomical form in all reptiles, birds
and mammals collectively known as amniotes
• Examples are turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodiles
• The adaptive radiation of reptiles resulted in many distinct
groups, some forms returned to the fresh water and marine
environment e.g chelonians or turtles and crocodilians
(Crocodiles), some became burrowers (e.g snakes and lizards)
• General Characteristics of Reptiles
1. Some reptiles are cold blooded animals (ectothermic) while some
others are heliothermic (gaining heat from the sun)
2. Just like the amphibians, reptiles have a nictitating membrane that
helps to protect the eye
3. Most of the reptiles are tetrapods, with legs or leg-like appendages
4. The epidermis of the skin is heavily cornified and form scales which
covers the body to conserve water
5. Their skin lack cutaneous glands(sweat glands and oil glands) and
only a few species of reptiles have scent glands
6. They possess lungs for respiration and the ribs are ventilated by
movement of the ribs
7. All reptiles have spinal columns and a strong skeletal system with a rib cage
8. They have a well developed brain and a central nervous system
9. All reptiles have three chambered heart except crocodiles which have four
chambered heart (2-atra and 2 ventricles) like mammals and birds
10. They are the first class of animals with amniotic eggs that can be laid on
land and not in water.
11. Offspring at birth resemble the adult
• There is no metamorphosis as in amphibians
12. They have a well developed keen sence of vision that enables them to find
food
13. The males have copulatory organs and fertilization is internal and live
eggs are laid on land
14. They shed their skin periodically which is normal and an important process
for growth
• The Major Adaptations of Reptiles to Life on Land

• The following characteristics of reptiles have made them to live on land and dry
places with all ease

1. Skin: Reptile's skin contains keratin, a water resistance substance that maintains
hydration

• Reptiles also have scales to keep in moisture and help avoid skin damage, though
the scales are sometimes too small to be visible

• This feature is most evident in turtles, whose scales fuse to form a shell, while you
can see a bird's scale on its feet and in the form of feathers

2. Kidney:

• Living on land means limited access to drinking water, so reptiles' kidneys have
adapted. They conserve water by producing less urine in more concentrated forms.
3. Reproduction: Laying soft-shelled eggs is safe in water, but land-dwelling creatures
requires a different reproductive strategy - Scientists think this is why reptiles evolved a hard
shell around their eggs at all

• In many types of snakes, the eggs hatches internally, and babies are born alive.

4. Lungs: Adapting lungs in place of gills was a significant step in reptiles' migration to land.

• Unlike the amphibians whose early life depends on gills, reptiles give birth to young ones
having fully developed lungs.

5. Basking: For cold blooded creatures on land, survival requires more than just physical
changes. Since a reptile's temperature depends on its surroundings, it basks on rocks to
warm its blood for hunting

• Without a place to bask, reptile remains dormant and less active.

6. Legs: Reptiles develop legs to live on land though some like the snakes lost theirs and
develop other means of movement on land
• Evolution of Reptiles
• Reptiles arose about 310-320 million years ago during the
carboniferous period
• A cladistic (a group consisting of ancestors and all its descendants)
definition of a monophyletic reptilian (aka sauropsida) contains birds
but excludes mammals and their close relatives (synapsids)
• Though few reptiles today are apex predators, many examples of
apex reptiles have existed in the past
• They have an extremely diverse evolutionary history that has led to
biological successes such as dinosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs,
mosasaurs and lcthyosaurs
Plesiosaur
mosasaur
• Reptiles arose from amphibians in the swamps of the late carboniferous.
The increasing evolutionary pressure and the vast untouched niches of the
land powered the evolutionary changes of amphibians to become more
and more land base.

• Environmental selections propelled the development of certain traits, such

as a stronger skeletal structure, muscles, and more protective coating
(scales) became more favourable, the basic foundation of reptiles where
founded.

• Development of hard shell external eggs, replacing the amphibious water

bounded eggs is the defining feature of the class reptilian and is what
allowed these amphibians to fully leave water.
• Their cerebrum became more developed though still less developed
compared to that of birds and mammals but is able to provide a vital
hunting strategies for the reptiles.
• Early Reptiles

• The reptiliomorph labyrinthodont that is the oldest animal that may have
been an amniote, a reptile rather than an amphibian is Casineria.

• The HYLONOMUS, is the oldest unquestionable reptile known. It was a

small lizard- like animal about 20 to 30cm long, with numerous sharp teeth
indicating an insectivorous diet.

• Anapsids, Synapsids, Diapsids and Sauropsid

• The first reptiles are Anapsid having a solid skull with holes only for the
nose, eye ball, spinal cord, etc.

• Very soon, after the first reptiles appeared, they split into two branches;
one branch SYNAPSID (including both mammal-like reptiles and modem
extant mammals), this branch had one opening in the skull roof behind
each eye.
• The other branch DIAPSIDA,
possessed a hole in their skulls behind
each eye, along with a second hole
located higher on the skull. The
functions of the hole in both groups
was to lighten the skull and give room
for the jaw muscles to move allowing
for a more powerful bite
• Diapsids and later Anapsids are
classified as the true reptiles
SAUROPSIDA

Fig. 4.1 a. anapsid b. diapsid c. synapsid d. sauropsid

• TURTLE:

• Turtles have been traditionally believed to be surviving anapsid on the basis of the
skull structure, but later morphological phylogenetic studies show that turtles are
fairly within the diapsids, most commonly as a sister group to extend archosaurs.

• Permian Reptiles

• Near the end of the carboniferous, while the terrestrial reptiliomorph

labyrinthodont were still present, the synapsid evolved the first fully terrestrial
large animal.

• The PELYCOSAURS such as EDAPHOSAURUS. In the mid Permian period, climate

turned dryer resulting in a change of fauna. The primitive pelicosaurs where
replaced by a more advanced THERAPSIDS.
• The anapsids whose massive skull roofs had no post-orbital holes
continued and flourished throughout the Permian. The PAREIASAURS
reached giant proportions in the late Permian, eventually, disappearing at
the close of the period
• Early in the period, the diapsid reptile splits into two main lineages, viz:
• THE ARCHOSAURS (forefathers of crocodiles and dinosaurs) and THE
LEPIDOSAURS (predecessors of modern TUATARAS, lizards and snakes.
• Both groups remained lizard-like and relatively small inconspicuous during
the Permian
• THE MESOZOIC ERA (AGE OF REPTILES)

• The closure of the Permian market most of the extinction of most of the early
reptiles, and are then replaced by the archosaurs and the lepidosaurs.

• ARCHOSAURS: The archosaurs are characterized by elongated hind legs and an

erect pose, the early form looking somewhat like long legged crocodiles. The
archosaurs became dominant during the Triassic period developing into the well
known dinosaurs and pterosaus as well as crocodiles and phytosaurs.

• Some of the dinosaurs developed into largest land animals ever to have lived,
making the Mesozoic era popularly known as age of reptiles. Dinosaurs also
developed smaller forms, including the feather bearing smaller THEROPODS. In
the mid Jurassic period, these gave rise to the first birds and other bird-like
reptiles.
• LEPIDOSAUR: Diapsid may have been the ancestral to the sea reptiles. The
reptiles developed into SAUROPTERYGNAUS, ICHTHYOSAURS, MONOSAURS.

• The therapsids came under increasing pressure from the dinosaur in the Jurassic
and gave rise to the mammal-like reptiles and the first mammals which were the
only survivors of the lines by the end of the period
• Classification Of Reptiles

1. Order Chelonia: This order consist mainly of the turtle family i.e reptiles that have shell. A well
known family is the Testudinatawhich entails the tortoises.
2. Order Squamata: This order entails the lizard and the snake families.
• Sub-orders are:
a. Sub Order Sauria: That contains the lizard- like reptiles, of families:
i. Gekkonidae - Geckos,
ii. Agamidae - Agamid lizard
iii. Chameleontidae - old word chameleons
LEPIDOSAUR
 a.Sub-Order Serpentes: These are the snakes family
i. Acrochordidae - wart snakes
ii. Biodae - pythons, boas and wood snakes
iii. Colubridae - aquatic snakes.
iv.Elepidae - cobras, mambas, coral snakes

1. Order Crocodilia: This this entails the crocodile family

i. Crocodildae: true crocodile
ii. Alligatoridae: Alligators and Caimans
Thank you for audience