Order Summary for Lepisosteiformes

  Main Ref
:
  Order
:
Lepisosteiformes gars
  Class
:
Holostei
  Sister Order
:
Amiiformes 260 M years
  Ref.
:
  First Fossil Record
:
late Permian
  Occurs in
:
Marine
Fresh
Brackish
  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.
  Order etymology
:
Greek, lepis, -idos = scale + Greek, osteon, bone + Latin, forma = shape (Ref. 45335).
  Families
:
( n = 1 ) -
Lepisosteidae

Ref.
[ e.g. 9948]                       
Glossary
                    [ e.g. cephalopods]

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