Actinopterygii, members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a clade of the bony fishes. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The Gonorynchiformes are an order of ray-finned fish that includes the important food source, the milkfish, and a number of lesser-known types, both marine and freshwater.
The Amiiformes order of fish has only one extant species, the bowfin. These Amiiformes are found in the freshwater systems of North America, in the United States and parts of southern Canada. They live in freshwater streams, rivers, and swamps.
Semionotiformes is an order of primitive, ray-finned, primarily freshwater fish from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) to the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian). The best-known genus is Semionotus of Europe and North America. Their closest living relatives are gars (Lepisosteidae), with both groups belonging to the clade Ginglymodi within the Holostei.
Hiodontiformes is an order of ray-finned fish consisting of the two living species of the mooneye family, Hiodontidae, and three extinct genera.
The Elopiformes are the order of ray-finned fish including the tarpons, tenpounders, and ladyfish, as well as a number of extinct types. They have a long fossil record, easily distinguished from other fishes by the presence of an additional set of bones in the throat.
The beardfishes consist of a single extant genus, Polymixia, of deep-sea marine ray-finned fish named for their pair of long hyoid barbels. They are classified in their own order Polymixiiformes. But as Nelson says, "few groups have been shifted back and forth as frequently as this one, and they were recently added to Paracanthoptergii". For instance, they have previously been classified as belonging to the Beryciformes. They are of little economic importance.
Arandaspida is a taxon of very early, jawless prehistoric fish which lived during the Ordovician period. Arandaspids represent the oldest known craniates, a proposed group of chordates that contain all chordates with a cartilage-derived skull, and hagfish. The group represents a subclass within the class Pteraspidomorphi, and contains only one order, the Arandaspidiformes. The oldest known genus of this group is Sacabambaspis found in South America.
Anaspida is an extinct group of primitive jawless vertebrates that lived primarily during the Silurian period, and became extinct soon after the start of the Devonian. They were classically regarded as the ancestors of lampreys. Anaspids were small marine agnathans that lacked a heavy bony shield and paired fins, but have a striking highly hypocercal tail. They first appeared in the early Silurian, and flourished until the early Devonian, when they disappear from the fossil record.
The superorder Elopomorpha contains a variety of types of fishes that range from typical silvery-colored species, such as the tarpons and ladyfishes of the Elopiformes and the bonefishes of the Albuliformes, to the long and slender, smooth-bodied eels of the Anguilliformes. The one characteristic uniting this group of fishes is they all have leptocephalus larvae, which are unique to the Elopomorpha. No other fishes have this type of larvae.
Percopsidae is a family of fish in the order Percopsiformes, with one extant genus with two species, both endemic to North America, and two known fossil genera.
Albulidae is a family of fish, commonly known as the bonefishes, that are popular as game fish in Florida, select locations in the South Pacific and the Bahamas and elsewhere. The family is small, with 11 species in 3 genera. Presently, the bonefishes are in their own order: Albuliformes. The families Halosauridae and Notacanthidae were previously classified in this order, but are now, according to FishBase, given their own order Notacanthiformes. The largest bonefish caught in the Western Hemisphere is a 16-pound, 3 ounce example caught off Islamorada, Florida, on March 19, 2007.
The Palaeonisciformes are an extinct order of early ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) which began in the Late Silurian and ended in the Late Cretaceous. The name of the order is derived from the Greek words paleo (ancient) and ὀνίσκος, probably pertaining to the organization of the fishes' scales, similar to the exoskeletal plating of woodlice.
Pycnodontiformes is an extinct order of bony fish. The group evolved during the Late Triassic and disappeared during the Eocene. The group has been found in rock formations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Coccolepis is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish in the family Coccolepididae. Originally including most species within the family, it is now restricted to two species from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone of Germany. The holotype of C. bucklandi, designated and described by Louis Agassiz, was thought to be lost but was later rediscovered in Neuchâtel.
Tarasiiformes is an extinct order of prehistoric ray-finned fish.
Peltopleuriformes were an extinct order of prehistoric bony fish.
Parawenzichthys is an extinct genus of protacanthopterygian fish containing the single species Parawenzichthys minor, known from the Turonian age Atlântida Formation in the Pelotas Basin in southern Brazil.
Otocephala is a clade of ray-finned fishes within the infraclass Teleostei that evolved some 230 million years ago. It is named for the presence of a hearing (otophysic) link from the swimbladder to the inner ear. Other names proposed for the group include Ostarioclupeomorpha and Otomorpha.
Birkeniiformes is an extinct order of jawless fish belonging to the class Anaspida.
