Lepisosteiformes

Order Lepisosteiformes





Remark:

Body and jaws elongate; mouth with needlelike teeth; abbreviated heterocercal tail; heavy ganoid scales, about 50-65 along lateral line; dorsal fin far back, with few rays; three branchiostegal rays; interoperculum absent; two or more supratemporal bones on each side; maxilla small and immobile; supramaxilla absent; myodome absent; vomer paired; swim bladder vascularized (thus permitting aerial respiration); vertebrae opisthocoelous (anterior end convex, posterior end concave, as in some reptiles and unlike all other fish except the blenny Andamia. Maximum length about 3.0 m.

Class etymology:

Greek aktis = ray, thunderbolt, beam + Greek pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin. Ref. 45335.

Sources: Fishbase