Lung_fish Lung_fish

Lung fish - Definition and Overview

Related Words: Anus, Appendix, Bellows, Brain, Cecum, Colon, Duodenum, Endocardium, Giblets, Gills, Gizzard, Guts, Heart, Hindgut, Intestine, Jejunum, Kidney

For the musical band, see Lungfish (band).


Lungfishes
Queensland Lungfish
Queensland Lungfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Subphylum:Vertebrata
Class:Sarcopterygii
Subclass:Dipnoi
Orders

see text

Lungfishes are sarcopterygian fish that can breathe air (and in some species are obligate air-breathers), and have limb-like appendages instead of fins. There are six living species known; four in Africa, and one each in South America and Australia.

They all have an elongate body, four limbs, and a single rear fin.

Taxonomy

Taxonomy of lungfishes presents some difficulty because of their resemblances to both fish and land-dwelling vertebrates, and have been classified in a variety of ways, ranging from class Dipnoi, to infraclass Dipnomorpha, to order Dipteriformes. However, there is general agreement that there are two main subcategories, here given as orders:

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