Lungfishes are sarcopterygianfish belonging to the order Dipnoi. Lungfish are best-known for retaining characteristics primitive within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and structures primitive within Sarcopterygii, including the presence of lobed fins with a well-developed internal skeleton. Today, they live only in Africa, South America, and Australia. While vicariance would suggest this represents an ancient distribution limited to the MesozoicsupercontinentGondwana, the fossil record suggests that advanced lungfish had a cosmopolitan freshwater distribution and that the current distribution of modern lungfish species reflects extinction of many lineages following the breakup of both Pangea and subsequently Gondwana and Laurasia.
Anatomy
All lungfish demonstrate an uninterrupted cartilaginous notochord and an extensively developed palatal dentition. Basal lungfish groups may retain marginal teeth and an ossified braincase, but derived lungfish taxa, including all modern species, show a significant reduction in marginal bones and a cartilaginous braincase. The bones of the skull roof in primitive lungfish are covered in a mineralized tissue called cosmine, but in post-devonian lungfishes, the skull roof is subdermal and the cosmine covering is lost. All modern lungfish show significant reductions and fusions of the bones of the skull roof, and the specific bones of the skull roof show no homology to the skull roof bones of actinopterygiians or tetrapods.
More on [ Lungfish ]
Southern Records: Lungfish - Biography, discography, and tour dates.
Meta Description: [ official southern records web site ]
500The Stranger: Lungfish - Show review with image.
Meta Description: [ The Stranger, Seattle's #1 alternative weekly newspaper. The Northwest's best source for news, entertainment reviews, events calendars, movie times, classifieds, personals and the home of Savage Love. ]