So today is Christmas day–which means that the whole family is here! The extended family is here now! Day twelve can be found here. The tag for the whole set will be here.
On Fishmas day itself cladistics gave to me…
- Twelve Eupercaria!
- Eleven fish near the top
- Ten Syngnatharia+Pelagiaria
- Nine Percomorpha
- Eight basal Neoteleosts
- Seven basal euteleostomorphs
- Six crown Otomorpha
- FIVE! BOH-NY TONGUES!
- Four elopomorphs
- Three Holosteans
- Two Chondrostei
- A bichir at the base of Actinopterygii
- And some Saarcopterygii relatives sharing a common ancestor in Osteicthyes!
Did I say finish yesterday? Only sort of! This FISHMAS has so far only discussed the ray fin fish, the Actinopterygii. But for Fishmas, we have to at least invite some representatives of the extended family tree! I mean of course the lobe fins, the Sarcopterygii. Notable for the fleshy paired limbs, with single bones attaching to the body. Sticking only to modern examples, the ‘fishy’ members of the clade are familiar as the Actinistia (coelacanths) and Dipnoi (lungfish); of course, there are a lot of extinct ones but…limits. As a group they include an even more broad range–evolving into all of the four-limbed vertebrates! Meaning among the living groups we have ‘amphibians’, ‘reptiles’, ‘birds’ and ‘mammals’.
Clearly, there are thousands of figures of all of those groups that could be included…really, it could be its own tree. But I did want to just have a few representatives. For Actinistia I have chosen the Kitan Club Indonesian Coelacanth and the Dipnoi is represented by the Colorata Queensland lungfish. The amphibians are represented by the Epoch Japanese Giant Salamander, the reptiles are represented by a Kaiyodo Alligator Snapping Turtle, and the birds are represented by the Eikoh Crow. The mammals as a group is represented by an Eikoh Spotted Hyena…and just for fun, an Animal Kaiser…Human. A figure that I cannot explain but is kind of odd (and who has shown up in photos here before!)
Thanks for following along with this! It was a lot of fun, and I even got to learn a few things too, so even better. Will I do this again with another group? Don’t know. Maybe. I definitely enjoy playing with cladograms and taxonomy! I will be taking a break for a little bit, and then I’ll see you in the new year!
