Diversity

• 26,000 living species—more species than all

other vertebrate groups combined
• Adapted to live in a medium 800 x more
dense than air
• Can adjust to salt and water balance of
environment
• Gills extract oxygen from water that has
1/20th the oxygen of air
• Aquatic environment both shaped and
constrained their evolution
Ancestry and Evolution
Ancestry and Evolution
 Ancestry and Evolution
• A. Ancestor
– Descended from free-swimming
protochordate ancestor

• B. Agnathans
Ostracoderms
– Earliest fish-like vertebrates
– Include extinct ostracoderms, and
living lampreys and hagfishes

• C. Placoderms
– Fish with paired appendages and
jaws that went extinct in Placoderms
Carboniferous with no living
descendants
Ancestry and Evolution (cont.)
• D. Cartilaginous Fishes
– Lost heavy armor and adopted
cartilage as skeleton
– Flourished during some
periods, becoming nearly
extinct during others
Cartilaginous Fishes
• E. Acanthodians
– Resemble bony fish but have
heavy spines on all but caudal
fin
– Sister group to bony fishes
– Went extinct in lower Permian
Acanthodians
Ancestry and Evolution (cont.)
F. Bony Fishes
• Dominant fishes today
• 2 distinct lineages—ray finned
and lobe finned
• Ray-finned radiated to form
modern bony fishes
• Lobe-finned include lungfishes,
the coelacanth, and are sister
group to tetrapods (amphibian
ancestors)
Superclass Agnatha: Jawless Fishes
• A. Characteristics
– Lack jaws, internal ossification, scales, or
paired limbs
– Pore-like gill openings and eel-like body
Agnatha: Jawless Fishes (Hagfishes)
• Entirely marine
• Scavengers and predators of
annelids, molluscs, dead or
dying fishes, etc
• Nearly blind but locates food
by acute sense of smell
• Rasps hole into prey then
eats from inside out with
plate-like tongue
• Glands secrete substance
that becomes slimy in
contact with seawater
Agnatha: Jawless Fishes (Lampreys)

• Attach to fish by sucker-

like mouth and sharp
teeth rasp away flesh
• Anticoagulant injected
into wound to stimulate
flow of blood
• Wound may be fatal to
host fish
• Non-parasitic lampreys do
not feed; digestive system
degenerates and fish die
after reproducing, within
2-3 years
Superclass Gnathostomata
(Vertebrates with Jaws)
Evolution of Jaw
 Class Chondrichthyes
• Overview
– Cartilagenous fishes
– 850 species nearly all marine; 28 species live in freshwater
– Ancient lineage but have survived due to well-developed sense
organs and powerful jaws making them successful predators
– Largest living vertebrates, after whales, reaching up to 12 m in
length

Whale
shark
reaches
43’ in
length
 Class Chondrichthyes
Subclass Elasmobranchii (Shark)
Outer Physiology
• Streamlined fusiform body shape

• Pointed nose with paired nostrils

in front of ventral mouth; on
hammerhead, nostrils on ends of
“hammer”

• Lateral eyes without lids

• Tail has longer upper lobe

(heterocercal)

• Paired pectoral and pelvic fins, 1-

2 dorsal fins, 1 caudal fin, and
sometimes an anal fin

• Tough, leathery skin with placoid

scales that reduce water
turbulence
Body Structures of Shark
Senses
• Olfactory organs can detect chemicals diluted 1/10
billionth their original concentration
• Lateral-line system senses low frequency vibrations
of prey over large distances
• Excellent vision, even in dim water, used at close
range
• At close range, sharks are guided to prey by electric
fields surrounding all animals
Inner Physiology
• Sharp triangular teeth in upper and lower jaws
– arranged in rows that are constantly replaced
• Mouth leads to pharynx with openings to gill slits
 Class Chondrichthyes
Subclass Elasmobranchii (Rays)
Form and Function Spiracle
• Flattened dorsoventrally
• Enlarged pectoral fins are
used as swimming wings
• Water used in respiration
enters large spiracles in
head
• Teeth adapted to act as
rollers to crush
invertebrates and
sometimes small fish
• Stingrays have whip-like
tail with spines and venom
glands
• Electric rays have electric
organs on sides of head
 Class Chondrichthyes
Subclass Holocephali (Chimeras)
• 31 species (Eg. Ratfishes)
• Diverged from earliest shark lineage
• No teeth; mouth has large flat plates for crushing food
– The upper jaw is completely fused to the cranium, a
most unusual feature in fishes
 Class Osteichthyes (Bony Fishes)
• Origin, Evolution, and Diversity
– Lineage developed in Silurian and now accounts for
96% of all fishes and all tetrapods
– Bone replaces cartilage as fish develops
– Lung or swim bladder evolved from an extension of
the gut; gas filled, it aids in buoyancy
– Bony operculum, a flap covering the gills that rotates
outward, draws water more efficiently over them
– Specialization of jaw musculature improves feeding;
also unique dental characters
The group Osteichthyes is divided into:
1.ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii)
2.lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii)
 Class Sarcopterygii
Actinopterygii

Class Actinopterygii

Sarcopterygii
 Countercurrent gas exchange

To maximize the efficiency of oxygen absorption