Osteichthyes - Bony Fish
The bony fish, or Osteichthyes, is the largest group of vertebrates in the world. There are more than 23,000 species of bony fishes living in the seas, rivers, lakes, ponds and caves of the world. Bony fish are characterised by many features including a skeleton made of bone.
Bony fishes may be herbivores, plankton eaters, parasites, scavengers or predators. They may be as tiny as some gobies (1 cm), as long as the oarfish (up to 17 m) or as heavy as the ocean sunfish (2 tonnes). They might live in a coral reef, at the bottom of the deepest ocean, in a tiny drying-up puddle or deep in a lightless cave.
Most bony fish are teleosts. They include eels, seahorses, goldfish and blowies. Other bony fishes are the sarcopterygiians – lungfish and coelacanth, and the actinopterygiians – sturgeons, bowfins, etc.
There are nearly 3000 species of bony fish recorded from Western Australia.
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Braun's Wrasse |
Mosaic Leatherjacket |
Leafy Seadragon |
(Pictilabrus brauni) |
(Eubalichthys mosaicus) |
(Phycodurus eques) |