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Lungfish

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

(Redirected from Dipnoi)

For the musical band, see Lungfish (band).

Lungfishes

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Sarcopterygii
Subclass:	Dipnoi

Orders

see text

Lungfishes are sarcopterygian fish that can breathe air (and in some species are obligate air-breathers), and have limb-like appendages instead of fins. There are six living species known; four in Africa, and one each in South America and Australia.

They all have an elongate body, four limbs, and a single rear fin.

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Taxonomy

Taxonomy of lungfishes presents some difficulty because of their resemblances to both fish and land-dwelling vertebrates, and have been classified in a variety of ways, ranging from class Dipnoi, to infraclass Dipnomorpha, to order Dipteriformes. However, there is general agreement that there are two main subcategories, here given as orders:

Ceratodontiformes: characterized by having broad flipper-like fins and an unpaired lung.
- Family Ceratodontidae,
  - Genus Neoceratodus
    - Neoceratodus forsteri - Queensland Lungfish
Lepidosireniformes: characterized by having thread-like fins and paired lungs.
- Family Lepidosirenidae
  - Genus Lepidosiren
    - Lepidosiren paradoxa - South American Lungfish
- Family Protopteridae
  - Genus Protopterus
    - Protopterus aethiopicus - Marbled Lungfish
    - Protopterus amphibius - East African Lungfish
    - Protopterus annectens - African Lungfish
    - Protopterus dolloi - Slender Lungfish