Neopterygii

Neopterygii
Temporal range: Late Permian–Recent
Gar fish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Subclass: Neopterygii
Infraclasses

Holostei
Teleostei
See text for orders.

Neopterygii is a group of Actinopteri animals. Neopterygii means "new fins". There are only few changes during their evolution from the earlier actinopterygians. They appeared somewhere in the Late Permian, before the time of the dinosaurs. The Neopterygii is a very successful group of fishes, because they can move more rapidly than their ancestors. Their scales and skeletons began to lighten during their evolution, and their jaws became more powerful and efficient. While electroreception and the ampullae of Lorenzini is present in all other groups of fish, with the exception of hagfish, Neopterygii has lost this sense, even if it has later been re-evolved within Gymnotiformes and catfishes, who possess nonhomologous teleost ampullae.[1]

Classification

References

  1. ^ Electroreception By Theodore Holmes Bullock
  2. ^ In ITIS, Gobiesociformes is placed as the suborder Gobiesocoidei of the order Perciformes.
  3. ^ In ITIS, Syngnathiformes is placed as the suborder Syngnathoidei of the order Gasterosteiformes.