Osteichthyes, popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse taxonomic group of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. The vast majority of fish are members of Osteichthyes, which is an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of 45 orders, and over 435 families and 28,000 species. It is the largest class of vertebrates in existence today. The group Osteichthyes is divided into the ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) and lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii). The oldest known fossils of bony fish are about 420 million years old, which are also transitional fossils, showing a tooth pattern that is in between the tooth rows of sharks and bony fishes.
Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. More than 150 species have been described, in 17 genera. Softnose skates and pygmy skates were previously treated as subfamilies of Rajidae, but are now considered as distinct families. Alternatively, the name "skate" is used to refer to the entire order of Rajiformes.
Opahs, also commonly known as moonfish, sunfish, kingfish, redfin ocean pan, and Jerusalem haddock, are large, colorful, deep-bodied pelagic lampriform fishes comprising the small family Lampridae.
Barreleyes, also known as spook fish, are small deep-sea argentiniform fish comprising the family Opisthoproctidae found in tropical-to-temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
The roach, also known as the common roach, is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the family Cyprinidae, native to most of Europe and western Asia. Fishes called roach can be any species of the genera Rutilus and Hesperoleucus, depending on locality. The plural of the term is also roach.
Moonfish may refer to several groups of fishes:
Mene rhombea is an extinct perciform fish belonging to the family Menidae. During the Middle Eocene, about 48 to 40 mya, these fishes lived in the Tethys Ocean, a large tropical sea in the area corresponding to the current Mediterranean. This ocean was extended between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia. At this time, where Monte Bolca is today, M. rhombea, and its relative, M. oblonga, lived in a tropical lagoon.
The blackspot shark is a small species of requiem shark in the family Carcharhinidae found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean between latitudes 24°N and 30°S, from the surface to a depth around 40 m (130 ft). Its length is a little under one meter (yard) and it is not considered to be dangerous to humans. It feeds mainly on fish, crustaceans, and squid. This shark is also caught in small-scale fisheries for human consumption.
The moonfish of the genus Mene, the sole extant genus of the family Menidae, are disk-shaped fish which bear a vague resemblance to gourami, thanks to their thread-like pelvic fins. Today, the genus is represented only by Mene maculata of the Indo-Pacific, where it is a popular food fish, especially in the Philippines, where it is known as bilong-bilong, chabita, hiwas or tahas.
Mene purdyi an extinct species of ray-finned fish in the genus Mene, from Late Thanetian-aged marine deposits in northern Peru. M. purdyi is currently known only from a single skull and a few post-cranial bones. M. purdyi is among the largest, if not the largest, members of the genus, as the skull suggests that it would have been over 40 centimetres (16 in) in life. The living species, M. maculata, by comparison, grows to an average length of 18 centimetres (7.1 in).
Blicca bjoerkna, alternatively called the white bream or the silver bream, is a European species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae.
The dwarf pygmy goby or Philippine goby is a tropical species of fish in the subfamily Gobionellinae from brackish water and mangrove areas in Southeast Asia. It is one of the smallest fish species in the world. Males reach maturity at a standard length of 0.9 cm (0.35 in) and can reach up to 1.1 cm (0.43 in) in standard length, while the females can grow up to 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) in total length. Adults weigh around 4 milligrams (0.00015 oz). It is known as bia and tabios in the Philippines.
The trumpeter whiting, Sillago maculata, is a common species of coastal marine fish of the smelt-whiting family, Sillaginidae. The trumpeter whiting is endemic to Australia, inhabiting the eastern seaboard from southern New South Wales to northern Queensland. The species is found in bays, estuaries, coastal lakes and mangrove creeks on silty and muddy substrates in waters ranging from 0 to 30 m deep, occasionally inhabiting sandy and seagrass beds.
The lookdown is a game fish of the family Carangidae. It was first described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Batoidea is a superorder of cartilaginous fishes commonly known as rays. They and their close relatives, the sharks, comprise the subclass Elasmobranchii. Rays are the largest group of cartilaginous fishes, with well over 600 species in 26 families. Rays are distinguished by their flattened bodies, enlarged pectoral fins that are fused to the head, and gill slits that are placed on their ventral surfaces.
A sucker in zoology refers to specialised attachment organ of an animal. It acts as an adhesion device in parasitic worms, several flatworms, cephalopods, certain fishes, amphibians, and bats. It is a muscular structure for suction on a host or substrate. In parasitic annelids, flatworms and roundworms, suckers are the organs of attachment to the host tissues. In tapeworms and flukes, they are a parasitic adaptation for attachment on the internal tissues of the host, such as intestines and blood vessels. In roundworms and flatworms they serve as attachment between individuals particularly during mating. In annelids, a sucker can be both a functional mouth and a locomotory organ. The structure and number of suckers are often used as basic taxonomic diagnosis between different species, since they are unique in each species. In tapeworms there are two distinct classes of suckers, namely "bothridia" for true suckers, and "bothria" for false suckers. In digeneal flukes there are usually an oral sucker at the mouth and a ventral sucker posterior to the mouth. Roundworms have their sucker just in front of the anus; hence it is often called a pre-anal sucker.
Lampris guttatus, commonly known as the opah, cravo, moonfish, kingfish, and Jerusalem haddock, is a large, colorful, deep-bodied pelagic lampriform fish belonging to the family Lampridae, which comprises the genus Lampris.
The boarfish is a species of fish in the family Caproidae, the only known member of its genus.
Selene setapinnis, the Atlantic moonfish, is a West Atlantic fish belonging to the family Carangidae.
The Atlantic batfish is a species of fish in the family Ogcocephalidae. It is found in deep water in the Atlantic Ocean where it lives on the seabed, feeding on small invertebrates.
