Taxonomy Refresher - Lepisosteus

 

Kingdom: Animalia – multicellular, eukaryotic organisms. Most of which consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from the blastula during embryonic development

Phylum: Chordata – animals with five distinctive physical characteristics: a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, an endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail

Subphylum: Vertebrata – all animals with spinal cords and bony or cartilaginous backbones (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish)

Superclass: Osteichthyes – commonly referred to as “bony fish” due to their skeletons being primarily composed of bone tissue.

Class: Actinopterygii – a class of bony fish known as “ray-finned fishes”. This is because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or horny spines which attach directly to the radials. Actinopterygians make up nearly 99% of all freshwater and marine fish species.

Subclass: Neopterygii – this subclass of ray-finned fish contains infraclasses Holostei and Neopterygii (comprised of over half of all living vertebrate species).

Infraclass: Holostei – a group of freshwater ray-finned bony fish which is divided into two major clades: Ginglymodi (gar) and Halecomorphi (only one living genus including two species of bowfin). Both clades are characterized by lightly ossified bones and their reduced spiracles, which are considered vestigial.

Order: Lepisosteiformes – See “clade”

Clade: Ginglymodi – a clade of ray-finned fish containing modern-day gars and their extinct relatives (Lepidotidae family and orders Seminototiformes and Kyphosichthyiformes

Family: Lepisosteidae – or “gar” are found in N. America and Central America in shallow and weedy water. They are an ancient (240 million years old) group of ray-finned fish characterized by their long and tubular bodies, elongated jaws, and armored ganoid scales. Gars also have the ability to gulp atmospheric air due to their vascularized swim bladders.

Genus: Lepisosteus ­– the common name for this genus of freshwater fish is “slender gars”. They are bony with long, narrow snouts that are native only to North America. The four known species are: oculatus, osseus, platostomus, and platyrhincus

(Information and photos from www.wikipedia.org)

Spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus)

Longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus)

Shortnose gar (Lepisosteus platostomus)

Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus)