CLASSIFICATION
KINGDOM : Animal
PHYLUM: Chordate
CLASS: Bony Fish
ORDERP: erciformes
FAMILY: Centrarchidae
GENUSL: epomis
SPECIES: lepomis macrochirus
Common Name. Bony Fish
Morphology
Body is spindle shaped. It is laterally compressed. The dorsal surface is dark gray coloured and belly is white in coulor. It grows upto 80 cm and weighs about 8 kilograms. The body is divisible into head, trunk and tail..The head ends with a short, swollen snout. The mouth is sub-terminal. A pair of short, thread like, sensory processes on the snout called maxillary barbels. The jaws are without teeth but the pharynx is provided with three rows of teeth. The paired eyes are without eyelids but a transparent membrane covers the cornea. Two nostrils are situated in front of eyes. The nostrils open internally into olfactory sac but not into buccal cavity.summary, ( bilateral )
Biology
. Bony fish are characterized by a relatively stable pattern of cranial bones, rooted, medial insertion of mandibular muscle in the lower jaw. The head and pectoral girdles are covered with large dermal bones.
. The eyeball is supported by a sclerotic ring of four small bones, but this characteristic has been lost or modified in many modern species.
. The labyrinth in the inner ear contains large otoliths. The braincase, or neurocranium, is frequently divided intoanterior and posterior sections divided by a fissure.
. Traditionally, the Osteichthyes is considered a class, recognised on having a swim bladder, only three pairs of gill arches, hidden behind a bony operculum and a predominately bony skeleton.[9] Under this classification systems, the Osteichthyes are paraphyletic with regard to land vertebrates as the common ancestor of all Osteichthyes includestetrapods amongst its descendants
. The eyeball is supported by a sclerotic ring of four small bones, but this characteristic has been lost or modified in many modern species.
. The labyrinth in the inner ear contains large otoliths. The braincase, or neurocranium, is frequently divided intoanterior and posterior sections divided by a fissure.
. Traditionally, the Osteichthyes is considered a class, recognised on having a swim bladder, only three pairs of gill arches, hidden behind a bony operculum and a predominately bony skeleton.[9] Under this classification systems, the Osteichthyes are paraphyletic with regard to land vertebrates as the common ancestor of all Osteichthyes includestetrapods amongst its descendants
Distribution Map
Importance: Ecological and Economical
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports that for 2002, commercial ocean fisheries captured more than 84 million metric tons of fish and shellfish; inland fisheries captured and harvested more than 9 million metric tons of fish and shellfish. While these numbers include sharks, rays, mollusks and crustaceans, about 82% of the total is bony fishes.Most commercial fishing operations aren't able to perfectly select only the kind of fish that they want (specimens for which there is a market). Non-targeted catch is called bycatch. Bycatch is discarded, often dead or dying. With the goal of ensuring effective conservation, management and development of living aquatic resources, the FAO has developed a "Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries". The Code sets out principles and international standards for responsible fishing practices. In 1997 the United States National Marine Fisheries Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NMFS/NOAA) set forth an implementation plan for compliance with the Code.
Interesting Facts
- Nearly all living osteichthyes have an ossified endoskeleton with a hard matrix of calcium phosphate.
- All bony fish possess gills. For the majority this is their sole or main means of respiration. Lungfish and other osteichthyan species however, are capable of respiration through lungs or vascularized swim bladders.
- Bony fish typically have swim bladders, which helps the body create a neutral balance between sinking and floating. However, these are absent in many species, and have developed into primitive lungs in the lungfishes.
- Osteichthyes are primitively ecothermic (cold blooded), meaning that their body temperature is dependent on that of the water.
- They also are able to see in color, unlike most other fish.
- Some bony fish are hermaphrodites, and a number of species exhibit parthenogenesis. Fertilization is usually external, but can be internal. Development is usually oviparous (egg-laying) but can be ovoviviparous, or viviparous. Although there is usually no parental care after birth, before birth parents may scatter, hide, guard or brood eggs, with sea horses being notable in that the males undergo a form of 'pregnancy', brooding eggs deposited in a ventral pouch by a female.
- Bony fish have no placoid scales. Mucous glands coat the body. Most have scales of sort: ganoid, cycloid, or cytenoid. These scales are smooth and overlapping.
- There are only eight living species of sarcopterygii.