Definition of osteichthyes Osteichthyes

Os•te•ich•thy•es

We found 3 definitions of osteichthyes from 3 different sources.

What does osteichthyes mean?

Noun
osteichthyes - a class of fish having a skeleton composed of bone in addition to cartilage
		class Osteichthyes
		class elegance in dress or behavior; "she has a lot of class"
		craniata, subphylum craniata, subphylum vertebrata, vertebrata fishes; amphibians; reptiles; birds; mammals
		bony fish any fish of the class Osteichthyes
		crossopterygii, subclass crossopterygii fishes having paired fins resembling limbs and regarded as ancestral to amphibians
		dipnoi, subclass dipnoi bony fishes of the southern hemisphere that breathe by a modified air bladder as well as gills; sometimes classified as an order of Crossopterygii

= synonym
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Osteichthyes are a taxonomic superclass of fish, also called "bony fish" that includes the ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) and lobe finned fish (Sarcopterygii). The split between these two classes occurred around 440 million of years. The Osteichthyes are paraphyletic with land vertebrates, in some classification schemes the tetrapods are considered to be members of the Osteichthyes for this reason.

Osteichthyes are the most various group of vertebrates, consisting of over 29,000 species, making them the largest class of vertebrates in existence today.