Fishes of the World

Fishes of the World is a standard reference for fish systematics by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the 30,000-plus fish species known to science. The book begins with a general overview of ichthyology, although it is not self-contained. After a short section on Chordata and non-fish taxa, the work lists all known fish families in a systematic fashion. Each family gets at least one paragraph, and usually a body outline drawing; large families have subfamilies and tribes described as well. Notable genera and species are mentioned, while the book generally does not deal with the species-level diversity. The complexities of the higher taxa are described succinctly, with many references for difficult points. The book does not involve color illustrations. The fourth edition was the first to incorporate the wide use of DNA analysis, revising many earlier classifications. The first edition appeared in 1976, the second in 1984, the third in 1994 (John Wiley & Sons, ), the fourth in March 2006 (), and the fifth in April 2016 ().

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Fishes of the World

Fish

A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animal that lacks limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of living fish species are ray-finned fish, belonging to the class Actinopterygii, with around 99% of those being teleosts. The earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period.

Osteichthyes

Osteichthyes (ˌɒstiːˈɪkθi.iːz), commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of vertebrates that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. The vast majority of fish are members of Osteichthyes, which is an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of 45 orders, and over 435 families and 28,000 species. It is the largest class of vertebrates in existence today.