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The lungfish, (subclass Dipnoi), any member of a group of six species of living air-breathing fishes and several extinct relatives belonging to the class Sarcopterygii and characterized by the possession of either one or two lungs. The Dipnoi first appeared in the Early Devonian Epoch (about 419.2 million to 393.3 million years ago), and the extant species occur in rivers and lakes in Africa, South America, and Australia. These animals are especially interesting because of their characteristic body forms, generally large size,non connected distribution over Earth’s tropical regions, and peculiar mode of life.

Today there are only six known species of lungfish, living in Africa, South America, and Australia, though they were formerly globally distributed. The fossil record of the group extends into the Early Devonian, over 410 million years ago. The earliest known members of the group were marine, while almost all post-Carboniferous representatives inhabit freshwater environments.

All lungfish demonstrate an uninterrupted cartilaginous notochord and an extensively developed plated dentition. Basal ("primitive") lungfish groups may retain marginal teeth and an ossified braincase, but derived lungfish groups, including all modern species, show a major reduction in the marginal bones and a cartilaginous braincase. The bones of the skull roof in primitive lungfish are covered in a mineralized tissue called cosmine, but in post-Devonian lungfishes, the skull roof lies beneath the skin and the cosmine covering is lost. All modern lungfish show significant reductions and fusions of the bones of the skull roof, and the specific bones of the skull roof show no homology to the skull roof bones of ray-finned fishes or tetrapods. During the breeding season, the South American lungfish develops a pair of feathery appendages that are actually highly modified pelvic fins. These fins are thought to improve gas exchange around the fish's eggs in its nest.

Modern lungfish all have an elongate body with fleshy, paired pectoral and pelvic fins and a single unpaired caudal fin replacing the dorsal, caudal and anal fins of most fishes.

Facts about Lungfish

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  • The economic importance of the lungfishes is slight. Only in certain parts of Africa, because of their abundance and size, are they of any value to humans as food. They are obtained from the mud of dried river bottoms. The South American lungfish, which is obtained in the same manner, is eaten locally.

  • Lungfish not only breathe outside the water, they surround themselves in a cocoon while they are on land. Dr. Salinas has studied the cocoon and it’s amazing properties. Lungfish can regenerate all of their cells, including all their internal and external organs. The cocoon is full of anti-bacterial properties, as well as other toxins that make predators not want to eat a slumbering lungfish out of water.

    Lungfish are ancient. They pre-date the dinosaurs on our planet, and their genome is the largest of all creatures on Earth.

  • These prehistoric animals have survived unchanged for nearly 400 million years and are sometimes referred to as "living fossils."

    Lobe-finned fish like the coelacanth and lungfish are known to zoologists as sarcopterygians, meaning fleshy fins. Tetrapods, including people, are descended from this group

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