Most modern fish are bony fish.

Lightweight dermal scales and fins and a

swim bladder facilitate swimming. Note the anal fin and the anterior location of
the pelvic fins. The number of gills is fewer than in cartilaginous fish, and the gills
are covered by a bony operculum. Note the lateral line system. Fish and lower
animals are poikilothermic (body temperature fluctuates with the environmental
temperature) and ectothermic (source of body heat is external). Fertilization and
development are external in most fish (Gunstream, 2012: 217).
Class Osteichthyes (ahs tee IHK theez) contains two groups of bony
fishes: the ray-finned fishes, belonging to subclass Actinopterygii (AK tihn ahp
TUR ee jee i), and the lobe-finned fishes, belonging to the subclass Sarcopterygii
(SAR kahp TUR ee jee i). Modern ray-finned fishes have a bony skeleton, ctenoid
or cycloid scales, an operculum covering the gills, and a swim bladder. The most
distinguishing feature of ray-finned fishes is in their name. The thin membranes of
these fishes’ fins are supported by thin, spine like rays, which are shown in Figure
28.17. Most fishes alive today, including salmon and trout, are ray-finned fishes.
There are only eight species of lobe-finned fishes living today. Their fins, shown
in Figure 28.17, have muscular lobes and joints similar to those of land
vertebrates. This makes the fins more flexible than those of ray-finned fishes.
Lobe-finned fishes, such as the lungfish, usually have lungs for gas exchange.
When drought occurs, a lungfish can burrow with its fleshy fins into the mud and
breathe air. (Biggs, 2008: 830).
Most bony fishes are characterized by a bony skeleton with many
vertebrae. Bone has advantages over cartilage because it provides excellent
support and effectively stores calcium. Most species have flexible median and
paired fi ns, supported by long rays made of cartilage or bone. Overlapping, bony
dermal scales cover the body. A lateral bony flap, the operculum, extends
posteriorly from the head and protects the gills. Unlike most sharks, bony fishes
are oviparous. They lay an impressive number of eggs and fertilize them
externally. The ocean sunfish, for example, lays more than 300 million eggs! Of
course, most of the eggs and young become food for other animals. The
probability of survival is increased by certain behavioral adaptations. For
example, many species of fishes build nests for their eggs and protect them
(Solomon, 2008: 680).
Coelacanths (SEE luh kanths) are another small group of lobe-finned
fishes that many people thought had become extinct about 70 million years ago.
However, in 1938, some people fishing off the coast of South Africa caught a
coelacanth. Since that time, other coelacanths have been caught. A third group of
lobe-finned fishes, now extinct, is thought to be the ancestor of tetrapods. A
tetrapod, shown in Figure 28.17, is a fourfooted animal with legs that have feet
and toes that have joints (Biggs, 2008: 830).
 During the Devonian period, the bony fishes diverged into two major
groups: the Sarcopterygii and the ray-finned fishes, class Actinopterygii. Fossils of
the earliest sarcopterygians date back to the Devonian period, about 400 mya.
Lungs and fleshy, lobed fins characterized these fishes. The flexible fins were not
supported by rays of bone except at their tips. Instead, a group of bones with
joints between them supported the fins (Solomon, 2008: 680).