3.+Osteicthyes



Anatomy of Osteichthyes

Anatomy of Ostiechthyes

Bone- A material that is harder and heavier than cartilage. Most skeletons of bony fishes are made of bone.

Swim Bladder- It is a gas-filled sac that is used to control the buoyancy of fishes. It allows the fish to move up and down in the water and keeps the fish from sinking or floating.

Scales- These protect the fish from predators and other dangers. It also helps reduce water resistance. There are many types of scales on bony fishes. Some fish have scales that are thinner to make them more flexibkle and others have ones that are used to reduce drag. Not all bony fishes have scales because they would rather be flexible than protected.

Operculum- A hard flap that helps protect the gills from predators when being attacked.

Lateral Line- This sesne organ is found in almost all fish and runs along the length of the fish. It can detect vibrations in the water caused by other fish and things moving around it.

**Wisconsin indidginous species-**
//__ Micropterus salmoids __// Largemouth bass

//__ Perca flavescens __// Yellow perch

//__ Oncorhynchus mykiss __// Rainbow trout

//__Lepomis macrochirus__// Blue gill

//__Esox Lucieus__// Northern pike

=**Top 10 Things You Must Know**=

==== 1. Osteichthyes are also called bony fish. This is the largest group of fish which contains about 29,000 different species of fish. It is the largest class of vertebrates. Osteichthyes are paraphyletic, which means they are tetrapods. ====

2. Most bony fish belong to the ray-finned fish. There are only eight living species of lobe-finned fish including the lungfish and coelacanths.
==== 3. The name osteichthyes comes from the existence of a bony endoskeleton in these fishes (“osteo” means bone, from the Greek too). ==== ==== 4. Bony fishes have a specialized organ called a gas bladder, or swim bladder, whose interior can be filled with gas. The swim bladder works as a hydrostatic organ since it varies the relative density of the body regulating buoyancy and the depth of the animal in water. ==== ==== 5. The lateral lines of bony fishes are sense organs that extend along both sides of the animal body. They make contact with the environment by a series of specialized scales that transmit information about pressure variation and vibrations in the surrounding water. ==== ====6.Fish are cold-blooded, aquatic animals that have scales, gills and fins. They were the first backboned animals to evolve. ==== 7. Pigment is mostly contained in cells called //chromatophores//. Most fishes can contract and expand their chromatophores to change colors. 8.The reproduction among organisms in Osteichthyes varies greatly, but is all sexual reproduction with separate sexes. The Coelacanth gives birth to about 5 to 25 live young after 13 months gestation, that can survive immediately after birth on their own.