Amiiformes
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Amiiformes
(ə′mī·ə′för′mēz)
(vertebrate zoology) An order of actinopterygian fishes characterized by an abbreviate heterocercal tail, fusiform body, and median fin rays.
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An order of Actinopterygian fishes, also known as the Halecomorphi. The characters include abbreviate heterocercal tail, in some almost symmetrical; usually fusiform body; median fin rays arranged one per pterygiophore; scales with a ganoine surface but typically thin; no spiracle; vascularized swim bladder with a duct; reduced maxilla which is free from the preopercle posteriorly; an orbit which is bordered below and behind by a series of enlarged bones; and, in Recent species, an enlarged gular plate and elongate dorsal fin.
The order, which appeared first in the Triassic, includes six families, of which only the Amiidae survived into the Cenozoic. The single Recent species, Amia calva, inhabits sluggish fresh waters of eastern North America. See also Actinopterygii; Osteichthyes.
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Mentioned in
Halecomorphi
(vertebrate zoology)
Amiidae
(vertebrate zoology)
bowfin
(fish)
Actinopterygii
(parazoa – porifera)
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