 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||
 Types of Fish - Vertebrates Slideshow
As we continue to look at fish, there are three major groupings. These classes of fish are based on the physical traits seen in the species. They are all still fish, swimming underwater, and using gills to breathe, but characteristics make them very different. The first class of fish you need to know is the cartilaginous group. These species use cartilage in their skeletons instead of traditional calcified and hard bone. Sharks and rays are the main species that make up this group. There are two major classes of bony fish. While they both have harder skeletons, these species are broken into the ray-finned and lobe-finned groups. Most of the fish you can recognize are ray-finned. Lobe-finned fish are a bit stranger. They have ancient ancestry and look much different. Examples of lobe-finned species are the rare Coelacanth and lungfish. Many extinct groupings of fish can be seen in fossils. The placoderms were armored fish species. They disappeared about 350 million years ago. There have also been spiny sharks and fish that had traits similar to reptiles. If you go on to study fossils, you will discover many unique species that lived long before the fish, amphibians, and reptiles of today. Image Credit: Andrew Rader Studios |
|
|||||||||||||||
|
RETURN TO TOP or Search for more information... * The custom search only looks at Rader's sites. |
|||||||||||||||
Go for site help or a list of life science topics at the site map!©copyright 1997-2014 Andrew Rader Studios, All rights reserved. Current Page: Biology4Kids.com | Activities and Slideshows | Vertebrates |
||||||||||||||||
|
** Andrew Rader Studios does not monitor or review the content available at external web sites. They are paid advertisements and neither partners nor recommended web sites. Specific links for books on Amazon.com are only suggested starting points for further research. Please browse, research options, and choose the appropriate materials for your needs. |
||||||||||||||||