Bony Fish
What is a bony fish?
Bony fish are fishes that have a skeleton made of bone and perches, warasses, barracudas, tunas, freshwater bass, and mackerels. They are the most diverse and numerous of all vertebrates with over 20,000 species of fresh and salt water bony fish.
They have teeth that are fixed onto the upper jaw. They have a swim bladder (an air filled sac that helps them with buoyancy) that opens into the gullet. Bony fish do not have to swim to breathe (to push water through the gills). Bony fish are covered in scales and they have gills on the sides of their heads.
Most fishes are a bony fish. Sharks, skates and rays are not a bony fish.
Bony fish subclasses
There are two subclasses of bony fish which are as follows;
Subclass Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fish) - The fins of these fish have jointed, bony rays that support them. These fish have large eyes and no internal nostrils. Most bony fish are in this subclass, which include herring, eels, sturgeon, salmon, lantern fish, milk fish, garpikes, carp, catfish, toadfish, anglers, cod, flying fish, John Dory, sticklebacks, seahorses, scorpionfish, perch, flatfish, triggerfish and pufferfish.
Subclass Sarcopterygii (Fleshy-finned fish) - The fins are supported by fleshy lobes with bones and include Coelacanth, Australian lungfish. These fishes gave rise to the amphibians.