Teleost facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Teleost Temporal range: Jurassic – Recent
Retroculus (Cichlidae); Hairy Blenny, Labrisomus; Ogcocephalus and Acanthurus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Subclass:	Neopterygii
Infraclass:	Teleostei

Teleosts are the dominant fish of the present day. They arose in the Mesozoic era, and include 20,000 living species. The oldest teleost fossils date back to the late Triassic. They evolved from fish like bowfins in the clade Holostei. During the Mesozoic and Cainozoic they diversified. 96 percent of all known fish species are teleosts.

They are, in order of evolution, vertebrates, jawed fish (Gnathostomata), bony fish (Osteichthyes) and ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii).

Teleosts have a movable jaw and changes in the jaw muscles. These changes make it possible for them to protrude their jaws outwards from the mouth. This adaptation improves their ability to grab fast-moving prey.

Date of origin

The date of origin of the teleosts is a difficult problem. Two kinds of evidence are available. There is evidence from the fossil record, in which the first teleost comes from the late Triassic period.

This date is somewhat later than molecular divergence time estimates (molecular clock). A recent paper finds that fossil dates and molecular clock dates are similar to each other. These researchers atate:

"Divergence times estimated from relaxed-molecular clock analyses yield a comprehensive time-scale of actinopterygian diversification that is remarkably close to ages inferred from the fossil record".

Evolution of ray-finned fish

Teleost superorders

Teleostei

• Osteoglossomorpha (freshwater elephantfish, mooneyes, Arapaima)
• Elopomorpha (eels)
• Clupeomorpha (herrings, anchovies)
• Ostariophysi (carp, goldfish, minnows, catfish, piranha, electric eels)
• Protacanthopterygii (salmon, trout, pike)
• Stenopterygii (marine hatchetfish)
• Cyclosquamata (Bombay duck. lancetfish)
• Scopelomorpha (lanternfish)
• Lampridiomorpha (ribbonfish)
• Polymyxiomorpha (beardfish)
• Paracanthopterygii (cavefish, cod, anglerfish)
• Acanthopterygii (mullet, silverside, dory, flyingfish, stickleback, seahorse)
  • 16 Orders, and especially the Order Perciformes (40% of all fish): bass, cichlid, mackerel, tuna, perch, filefish, pufferfish, flatfish, goby, blenny, whiting, wrasse)

Images for kids

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  Skull and jaw anatomy

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  Caudal skeleton showing symmetrical (homocercal) tail

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  Aspidorhynchus acustirostris, an early teleost from the Middle Jurassic, related to the bowfin

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  Predatory teleost: the flesh-cutting teeth of a piranha (Serrasalmidae)

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  The winter flounder is asymmetrical, with both eyes lying on the same side of the head.

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  The knifefish Gymnarchus niloticus generates weak electric fields enabling it to detect and locate prey in turbid water.

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  Fish in a hot desert: the desert pupfish

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  Gills

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  A stickleback stained to show the lateral line elements (neuromasts)

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  Osmotic challenge: American eels spawn in the sea but spend most of their adult life in freshwater, returning only to spawn.

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  A teleost swim bladder

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  Flying fish combine swimming movements with the ability to glide in air using their long pectoral fins.

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  Male desert goby courting a female

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  Three-spined stickleback males (red belly) build nests and compete to attract females to lay eggs in them. Males then defend and fan the eggs. Painting by Alexander Francis Lydon, 1879

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  "Pregnant" male seahorse

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  Newly hatched Atlantic salmon with yolk sac

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  Schooling predatory bluefin trevally sizing up schooling anchovies

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  Fish farming in the sea off Scotland

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  Capture of Atlantic Cod 1950-2005 (FAO)

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  Service to science: zebrafish being bred in a research institute

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  Wall painting of fishing, Tomb of Menna the scribe, Thebes, Ancient Egypt, c. 1422–1411 BC

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  Italian Renaissance: Fish, Antonio Tanari, c. 1610–1630, in the Medici Villa, Poggio a Caiano

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  Dutch Golden Age painting: Fish Still Life with Stormy Seas, Willem Ormea and Abraham Willaerts, 1636

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  Mandarin Fish by Bian Shoumin, Qing dynasty, 18th century

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  Saito Oniwakamaru fights a giant carp at the Bishimon waterfall by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 19th century

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  Still Life with Mackerel, Lemons and Tomato, Vincent Van Gogh, 1886

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  Teleostei by Ernst Haeckel, 1904. Four species, surrounded by scales

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  Ostraciontes by Ernst Haeckel, 1904. Ten teleosts, with Lactoria cornuta in centre.

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  Fish Magic, Paul Klee, oil and watercolour varnished, 1925

See also

In Spanish: Teleósteos para niños