Osteichthyes
Sign in to saveOsteichthyes ( ; ), also known as osteichthyans or commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse clade of vertebrate animals that have endoskeletons primarily composed of bone tissue, encompassing both the conventional bony fishes and, in a cladistic sense, all tetrapods. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) and the extinct placoderms and acanthodians, which have endoskeletons primarily composed of cartilage. The vast majority of extant fish are members of Osteichthyes, being an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of 45 orders, over 435 families
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Osteichthyes, commonly known as bony fish, are a diverse group of vertebrates with skeletons made primarily of bone rather than cartilage, and they represent the vast majority of fish species alive today. This group is important because it includes over 435 families across 45 different orders, making it one of the most abundant and varied groups of vertebrate animals on Earth.
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Article
9 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Classification
- Phylogeny
- Biology
- Examples
- Comparison with cartilaginous fishes
- See also
- References
- Sources
Osteichthyes ( ; ), also known as osteichthyans or commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse clade of vertebrate animals that have endoskeletons primarily composed of bone tissue, encompassing both the conventional bony fishes and, in a cladistic sense, all tetrapods. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) and the extinct placoderms and acanthodians, which have endoskeletons primarily composed of cartilage. The vast majority of extant fish are members of Osteichthyes, being an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of 45 orders, over 435 families and 28,000 species.
The group is divided into two main clades, the ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii, which makes up the vast majority of extant fish) and the lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii, which gave rise to all land vertebrates). The oldest known fossils of bony fish are about 436 million years old from the early Silurian period, which are also transitional fossils showing a tooth pattern that is in between the tooth rows of sharks and true bony fishes. Despite the name, these early basal bony fish had not yet evolved ossification and their skeletons were still mostly cartilaginous, and the main distinguishing feature that set them apart from other fish clades were the development of foregut pouches that eventually evolved into the swim bladders and lungs, respectively.