Lungfish
For the musical band, see Lungfish (band).
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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.
Taxonomically, they present 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.
Order Ceratodontiformes is characterized by having broad flipper-like fins and an unpaired lung.
Members of Lepidosireniformes have thread-like fins and paired lungs.
Ceratodontiformes
Lepidosireniformes
