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
Ganoid scales

light overlapping scales

cycloid, ctenoid

Ctenoid

2) Heterocercal

Heterocercal tail of Paddlefish

Homocercal tail

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 thats protrusible!

Pharyngeal Jaws
Advantage??

Reproduction most actinopterygians oviparous

Marine- planktonic

Freshwater & nestguarding 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
Viscous drag

High
inertial drag

Burst Speed

Pike

Sustained Speed

Lobe Finned fishes - Sarcopterygia

Actinopterygia

Lungfish
Coelocanth

Australia

Africa

S. America

Aestivating African lungfish

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?