Taxon Teleostei

Teleostei or ray finned fishes are found in both marine and fresh water environments. The taxon Teleostei is made up of eels, catfish, trout, tarpon, tuna, halibut, flounder, cod, herring, salmon, goldfish and many other ray finned fishes. While this group is made up of edible fishes, there are some in this taxon that are not usually consumed. Organisms within this taxa are very diverse in anatomical structures, structural functions, shape and color. Size diversity is also present within this group. While many of the fish within this taxa are relatively small, the group does not leave out larger fish. The Mola mola or sunfish reaches roughly 10 feet and nearly 2,000 pounds, and is also a Teleostei. One of the distinguishing factors of this taxon is that when the fish lays its eggs, they bury their eggs within the sand or dirt until hatching. I knew that ray finned fishes were diverse in terms of marine and fresh water, but the amount of diversity that is present throughout this group is even greater than that. They can exist in almost any aquatic environment on this earth. Almost every fish we consume falls under this taxon, but it still does not even scratch the surface to the amount of species that exist in this group and how diverse their environment and body functionality changes to accommodate the fish’s current surrounding.  

Work Cited

“Teleost Fish: Habitat, Diversity & Reproduction.” Basic Biology,

          basicbiology.net/animal/fish/teleost.

‌“Teleostei.” Ucmp.berkeley.edu,

                ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/actinopterygii/teleostei.html

 Weitzman, Stanley H. “Teleost | Fish.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019,

               www.britannica.com/animal/teleost.

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