Osteichthyes - >27,000 bony fishes, 13,000 herps, 9000 birds, 4800 mammals

Bony Fish Characteristics–

Endochondral bone

Bony operculum
Covering gills
Extinct Antecedents
Placoderms (Arthrodires)

Neck Joint
Two major branches
Of Osteichthyes
1. Sarcopterygia
Lung fish Fig 6-3
Coelocanths Fig 6-4
Tetrapods

2 Actinopterygia
Ray-finned fishes
Trends in Actinopterygian Evolution Fig 6-2, 6-8

1) Heavy body armor light overlapping scales

Ganoid scales cycloid, ctenoid

Ctenoid
2) Heterocercal Homocercal tail

Heterocercal tail of Paddlefish Homocercal tail of swordfish

 Gar

Bowfin (Amia)
3) Development of gas/swim bladder for buoyancy Fig 4-3
Physostomous Physoclistous

Ovale
1. Are mammals on this cladogram? If so where?

2. What is the major difference between ostracoderms and placoderms?

3. For actinopterygians, what is the ancestral condition in terms of scale type

and tail type?

4. Sharks maintain neutral buoyancy without a swim bladder. How?

5. What would you predict about the organs for maintaining neutral
buoyancy in bottom-dwelling rays and actinopterygians?

6. If a physoclistous fish were swimming to deeper depths, what would the

ovale of the swim bladder be doing?
4) Evolution of protrusible jaws and pharyngeal jaws Fig 6-7
Fig 6-7
4) Evolution of protrusible jaws and pharyngeal jaws

Scissors =
gar

Maxilla rotates out – trout

Premaxilla slides out

Protrusible tube

Advantage??
Sling-jaw Wrasse – Now that’s protrusible!
Pharyngeal Jaws
Advantage??
Reproduction – most actinopterygians oviparous
Marine- planktonic Freshwater & nest–guarding Marine
- demersal
Planktonic larvae
of marine fish

Note adaptations
to blend in with plankton
Or to avoid predation
Fig 6-15
Swimming and Actinopterygian fish

“The gap between the swimming fish and the scientist is closing,
but the fish is still well ahead”
Lindsey 1978
 Swimming styles and swimming efficiency Fig 6-14, 6-15, 6-16

Anguilliform

Carangiform

Ostraciform
Fig 6-13
Fig 6-16

High
High inertial drag
Viscous drag
Burst Speed
Sustained Speed

Pike
Lobe Finned fishes - Sarcopterygia

Actinopterygia

Lungfish
Coelocanth
 Aestivating African lungfish
Australia

Africa

S. America
 Sketch sent to JLB Smith

Marjorie Courtney-Latimer
With the mounted S Africa
specimen
Oops! No internal organs or
skeleton!
1938
“I need a government plane!”

JLB Smith and flight crew

with 2nd coelocanth

Smith sleeps with his prize

The reward is presented
1997 - it happens again!
on a honeymoon trip to Indonesia!

See what paying

attention in
Vert Bio can do?