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Information about Actinopterygians

Ray-finned fish
Fossil range: Latest Silurian–Recent
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Atlantic herring

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Infraphylum:Gnathostomata
Superclass:Osteichthyes
Class:Actinopterygii
Klein, 1885
Subclasses


Chondrostei
Neopterygii
See text for orders.
The Actinopterygii (the plural form of Actinopterygius) comprise the class of the ray-finned fishes.

The ray-finned fishes are so called because they possess lepidotrichia or "fin rays", their fins being webs of skin supported by bony or horny spines ("rays"), as opposed to the fleshy, lobed fins that characterize the order Sarcopterygii. These actinopterygian fin rays attach directly to the proximal or basal skeletal elements, the radials, which represent the link or connection between these fins and the internal skeleton (e.g., pelvic and pectoral girdles).

In terms of numbers, actinopterygians are the dominant class of vertebrates, with nearly 30,000 species, and they are ubiquitous throughout fresh water and marine environments from the deep sea to the highest mountain streams.

Classification

Traditionally three grades of actinopterygians have been recognised: the Chondrostei, Holostei, and Teleostei. Some morphological evidence suggests that the second is paraphyletic and should be abandoned; however, recent work based on the analysis of DNA sequence data from the complete mitochondrial genome supports its recognition. Nearly all living bony fishes are teleosts.

A listing of the different groups is given below, down to the level of orders, arranged in what has been suggested to represent the evolutionary sequence down to the level of order based primarily on the long history of morphological studies. This classification, like any other taxonomy based on phylogenetic research is in a state of flux. Many of these ordinal and higher-level groupings have not been supported in both the recent morphological and molecular literature. Examples of demonstrably paraphyletic or unnatural groups include the Paracanthopterygii, Scorpaeniformes, and Perciformes[1]. The listing follows FishBase[2] with notes when this differs from Nelson[3] and ITIS.[4]

Notes

1. ^ G. D. Johnson and E. O. Wiley (March 2007). Tree of Life: Percomorpha.
2. ^ R. Froese and D. Pauly (editors) (February 2006). FishBase.
3. ^ Nelson, Joseph, S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. ISBN 0471250317. 
4. ^ Actinopterygii (TSN 161061). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 3 April 2006.
5. ^ In Nelson, Polypteriformes is placed in its own subclass Cladistia.
6. ^ In ITIS, Gobiesociformes is placed as the suborder Gobiesocoidei of the order Perciformes.
7. ^ In Nelson and ITIS, Syngnathiformes is placed as the suborder Syngnathoidei of the order Gasterosteiformes.
The Silurian is a major division of the geologic timescale that extends from the end of the Ordovician period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago), to the beginning of the Devonian period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Ma (ICS 2004).
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C. harengus

Binomial name
Clupea harengus
Linnaeus, 1758

Atlantic herring Clupea harengus is the one of the most abundant species of fish on the planet.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Gnathostomata

Subgroups
  • Class Placodermi
  • Superclass Chondrichthyes
  • Microphylum Teleostomi
  • Class Acanthodii
  • Class Actinopterygii

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Osteichthyes
Huxley, 1880

Classes

Actinopterygii
Sarcopterygii

Osteichthyes (IPA: /ˌɒstiːˈɪkθiːz/) are a taxonomic superclass of fish, also called
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Chondrostei

Orders

Acipenseriformes
Polypteriformes
Chondrostei are primarily cartiliginous fish showing some ossification. There are 52 species divided among two orders, the Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) and the Polypteriformes
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Neopterygii

Infraclasses

Holostei
Teleostei
See text for orders.
Neopterygii is a group of Actinopteri animals. Neopterygii means "new wings". There are only few changes during their evolution from the earlier actinopterygians.
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class is the rank in the scientific classification of organisms in biology below Phylum and above Order.

For example, Mammalia is the class used in the classification of dogs, whose phylum is Chordata (animals with notochords) and order is Carnivora (mammals that eat meat).
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Lepidotrichia are bony, bilaterally-paired, segmented fin rays found in bony fishes. They develop around actinotrichia as part of the dermal exoskeleton. Lepidotrichia may have some cartilage or bone in them as well.
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Sarcopterygii

Subclasses
  • Coelacanthimorpha - Coelacanths
  • Dipnoi - Lungfishes
  • Tetrapodomorpha - Tetrapods


Sarcopterygii (from Greek sarx, flesh, and pteryx
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Vertebrata
Cuvier, 1812

Classes and Clades

See below
Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata (within the phylum Chordata), specifically, those chordates with backbones or spinal columns.
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Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve.
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean
An ocean (from Ωκεανός, Okeanos
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Chondrostei

Orders

Acipenseriformes
Polypteriformes
Chondrostei are primarily cartiliginous fish showing some ossification. There are 52 species divided among two orders, the Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) and the Polypteriformes
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Holostei

Orders

Amiiformes
Lepisosteiformes
Holostei are bony fish that show primitive characteristics. There are eight species divided among two orders, the Amiiformes represented by a single living species, the bowfin (Amia calva
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Teleostei

Superorders

Osteoglossomorpha
Elopomorpha
Clupeomorpha
Ostariophysi
Protacanthopterygii
Sternopterygii
Cyclosquamata
Scopelomorpha
Lampridiomorpha
Polymyxiomorpha
Paracanthopterygii
Polymyxiomorpha
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In phylogenetics, a group of organisms is said to be paraphyletic (Greek para = near and phyle = race) if the group contains its most recent common ancestor, but does not contain all the descendants of that ancestor.
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For the science of classifying living things, see .


Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word comes from the Greek τάξις, taxis, 'order' +
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phylogenetics (Greek: phyle = tribe, race and genetikos = relative to birth, from genesis = birth) is the study of evolutionary relatedness among various groups of organisms (e.g., species, populations).
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In phylogenetics, a group of organisms is said to be paraphyletic (Greek para = near and phyle = race) if the group contains its most recent common ancestor, but does not contain all the descendants of that ancestor.
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Paracanthopterygii

Orders

Percopsiformes
Batrachoidiformes
Lophiiformes
Gadiformes
Ophidiiformes

Paracanthopterygii is a superorder of fishes. Members of this superorder are called paracanthopterygians.
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Scorpaeniformes

Suborders

Anoplopomatoidei
Cottoidei
Dactylopteroidei
Hexagrammoidei
Normanichthyiodei
Platycephaloidei
Scorpaenoidei
See text for families
Scorpaeniformes is an order of ray-finned fish, also called the
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Perciformes

Families

many, see text
The Perciformes, also called the Percomorphi or Acanthopteri, include about 40% of all fish and are the largest order of vertebrates. The name Perciformes means perch-like.
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FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish. As of October 2006, it included descriptions of over 29,400 species, over 222,300 common names in hundreds of languages, over 42,600 pictures, and references to more than 38,600 works in the scientific literature.
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Itis may refer to
  • Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
  • -itis, an English suffix typically used to denote an inflammation
  • "The Itis" (Boondocks episode), an episode of the TV series The Boondocks (TV series)

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Chondrostei

Orders

Acipenseriformes
Polypteriformes
Chondrostei are primarily cartiliginous fish showing some ossification. There are 52 species divided among two orders, the Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) and the Polypteriformes
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Polypteriformes

Family: Polypteridae

Genera

Erpetoichthys
Polypterus
See text for species.
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