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 416 million to 398 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, disjunct distribution over Earth’s tropical regions, and peculiar mode of life.
Size range and distribution
Most species grow to substantial size. The Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, may weigh up to 10 kg (about 22 pounds) and grow to a length of 1.25 metres (about 4 feet). Of the African lungfishes, the yellow marbled Ethiopian species, Protopterus aethiopicus, is the largest, growing to a length of 2 metres (about 7 feet). The South American species, Lepidosiren paradoxa, reaches a length of 1.25 metres (about 4 feet).
The distribution of the Dipnoi strikingly parallels that of the unrelated osteoglossomorph fishes, another freshwater group. The Australian lungfish occurs in a very small region of Australia—in the marshes of Queensland, along Burnett River and St. Mary’s River. Four species of Protopterus occur in Africa, where they are chiefly concentrated in the equatorial belt but occur as far north as Senegal and as far south as Mozambique. Within their areas of distribution, the African protopterids are abundant along the riverbanks, in submerged areas with plant cover, and in lakes. L. paradoxa, the South American lungfish, is widely distributed in that continent. It is especially numerous and often associated with the eel-like synbranchiform Synbranchus marmoratus in the shallow and muddy watercourses of the Chaco River in Paraguay and in neighbouring areas.
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.
Reproduction and life cycle
The African lungfishes spawn in the last half of winter, the onset of the rainy season. Protopterus species build a nest in the form of a pit on the bottom of a watercourse. The egg is about 3.5 to 4 mm (about 0.14 inch) in diameter, and the tiny larvae emerge a week after the eggs are laid. The larvae have long, bright red, tuftlike or fanlike external gills, which they use for breathing until the lungs are fully developed. The young at first remain in the nest under the protection of the male.
The South American lungfishes dig a nest in the bottom in the form of a vertical passage, which frequently turns horizontally at the bottom. The male remains in the nest and guards the brood. During the spawning season, the pelvic fins of the male develop numerous tuft-shaped growths filled with small blood vessels (capillaries). These growths are believed to release oxygen from the blood, thereby oxygenating the water around the young.
The Australian lungfish lays gelatinous eggs among water plants; the larvae, which have no external gills, breathe through internal gills.
Behaviour and ecology
Lungfishes are voracious, eating a variety of aquatic animals, including members of their own species. In captivity, African lungfishes eat earthworms, pieces of meat, tadpoles, small frogs, and small fish. The Ethiopian lungfish, Protopterus aethiopicus, has at the front of the upper jaw two rather rounded teeth with a hard transverse (from side to side) bridge. The lower jaw has a number of crushing teeth. The prey is sucked in, crushed, and thoroughly chewed; such a manner of eating is rare among fishes.
Form and function
The slim, eel-like African protopterid fishes and the even slimmer South American Lepidosiren paradoxa have long, stringy, very mobile pectoral and pelvic fins that are in a constant state of agitation—touching and sensing surroundings. The tips of these fins have a highly developed sense of touch, which, together with the fish’s well-developed sensitivity to pressure and turbulence and its good sense of smell and taste, largely make up for the weakness of the eyes. The fish are almost blind with respect to the perception of form and movement. Pressure and turbulence are sensed by means of sensory structures called lateral lines. At the anterior, or head, end, the lateral lines are modified into a pattern of intricately interlaced bright lines, which are a series of tiny bud-shaped terminal organs. The highly individual patterns are used in distinguishing species. There are also organs of electroreception present on the snout (see sensory reception: Classification of sensory systems).
The Australian lungfish has an entirely different appearance. It more closely resembles fossil forms and is more compactly built, with large overlapping scales. The pectoral and pelvic fins are much broader. The African and South American lungfishes have paired lung sacs; in the Australian species the left lung sac atrophies.
Adaptations for breathing
There are a number of fishes that, in addition to or in place of gill breathing, have developed special organs through which they can breathe atmospheric air at the water surface. This occurs almost exclusively in freshwater fishes. In lungfishes these organs are, both in function and in structure, primitive lungs like those of amphibians. The name lungfish is thus well applied: these fishes have lungs that are derived from the swim bladder (an organ used for buoyancy in most bony fishes), which is connected to the alimentary tract. The inner surfaces of these air-breathing organs are covered with a great number of honeycomb-like cavities supplied with fine blood vessels. As in terrestrial higher vertebrates, gas exchange takes place in tiny air vesicles. Also as in terrestrial vertebrates, there is a separate pulmonary circulation.
In order to breathe, the fish swims upward and positions its head so that the tip of the snout barely touches the water surface. The mouth is then opened wide, and the fish sucks in air from just above the water—a process often accompanied by a characteristic sound. The Australian lungfish reportedly breathes air through the nasal openings, the mouth remaining closed. In contrast to the more advanced bony fishes, lungfishes have a particular opening (choana) that connects the nasal cavity with the mouth.
In the Australian lungfish, gill breathing predominates at least some of the time—namely, in times of normal water level when the water is well oxygenated. At such times the fish rises less often to the surface to breathe atmospheric air. When the water level goes down, which usually occurs in August or September, the fish is often found in isolated waterholes in which the oxygen content is greatly reduced. Other fishes in such pools often die from lack of oxygen, but the lungfish survives, having changed over to the breathing of atmospheric air. During such a dry period the Australian lungfish surfaces about every 40 to 50 minutes for air. African lungfishes surface for air about every 30 minutes or, in some cases, at longer intervals.
Physiology and biochemistry
African lungfishes burrow into the bottom of a riverbed or lake bed for their “dry sleep,” or estivation (see dormancy). After burying themselves, they become encased in a mucous sheath that gradually hardens. Here they spend the dry season, during which the waterline becomes lower and the riverbed or lake bed finally dries out. The African lungfish generally digs in and encysts in this manner, even if there is sufficient time to swim to deeper waters. African lungfishes also burrow into mud and ensheath themselves under experimental conditions. They have been kept alive in such an induced state for more than two years. The South American lungfish also burrows into the mud in times of water shortage, but it forms no protective sheath. However, the Australian lungfish never buries itself in this manner. During prolonged estivation, African lungfishes may accumulate high concentrations of urea in the body.
Studies have shown that a substance that inhibits the fish’s normal metabolism induces the dry sleep of the African lungfish. Extracts from the brains of such sleeping fish injected into rats have caused them to become lethargic; in addition, the body temperature of the rats falls 5 °C (9 °F), and the metabolic rate falls 33 percent. The day after receiving such injections, the rats stop eating. It is believed that the material responsible for this effect is a proteinlike substance.
The oldest Dipnoi, from the Early Devonian, possessed skull and dental features that were characteristically dipnoid but also had many features in common with another sarcopterygian group called the crossopterygians, such as the coelacanths. The Dipnoi were abundant until Triassic times (about 251 million to 200 million years ago), after which their numbers decreased.
Dipterus, one of the oldest lungfish, had leaflike pectoral and pelvic fins similar to those of the modern Australian lungfish, and it seems reasonable to assume that early forms also had functional lungs comparable to those of species living today. Hardened sections of clay, cylindrical in shape, have been found in deposits dating to Pennsylvanian and Permian times (about 318 million to 251 million years ago). Remains of the dipnoid Gnathorhiza, closely allied to the extant African and South American species, were embedded in the clay. Their discovery in such a setting strongly suggests that these dipnoids passed unfavourable conditions buried in mud.
An evolutionary line can be traced from Dipterus to Neoceratodus, the extant Australian genus. Scaumenacia and Phaneropleuron, common forms in the Late Devonian (about 385 million to 359 million years ago), exhibited a much-reduced first dorsal fin (the first fin forward on the back); the second dorsal fin was enlarged and had shifted further toward the tail. Lungfish of Permian times showed an apparent fusion of the fins along the back and the rest of the vertical midline. This extended fin tapered to a point at the tip of the tail and also occurs in modern lungfishes. Various side branches also emerged in the evolution of the Dipnoi; however, none of these have survived to modern times.
Some scientists claim that walking and bounding behaviours common to tetrapods (limbed vertebrates and their descendants) evolved first in sarcopterygian fishes. They cite as evidence the ability of a modern African lungfish, Protopterus annectens, to propel itself along a substrate, such as the bottom of a pool, using its long fins for support. The fins contain no digits, yet the animal may lift its body up from the substrate by bending them to function like footlike appendages. The animal routinely employs a quadrupedal gait; however, it can also adopt a bipedal gait at times. Since tetrapods arose from sarcopterygian fishes, the presence of walking and bounding behaviours in lungfishes may be proof that these traits evolved before the emergence of tetrapods.
Distinguishing taxonomic features
The separation of Dipnoi as a discrete group is based largely on the structure and arrangement of the skull bones, the endoskeleton of the paired fins, and the teeth. The living orders of the Dipnoi, of which there are two, are distinguishable mainly by the number of lungs they possess. The annotated classification given below relates primarily to living forms; extinct groups are not listed.
- Subclass Dipnoi
- Early Devonian (about 416 million to 398 million years ago) to present. Cranium not divided into movable parts; teeth in upper jaw reduced and lost in later members; some teeth fused into plates for crushing and grinding. A single order.
- Family Ceratodontidae
- Pectoral and pelvic fins reduced but not tentacle-like. Fin rays present; scales large; larvae without external gills. Length to about 1.25 metres (about 4 feet). 1 living species, Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri).
- Order Lepidosireniformes
- 2 functional lungs. Body eel-like in form; scales small; pectoral and pelvic fins modified into slender tentacle-like structures; passes dry periods in mud of dried river and lake bottoms.
- Family Lepidosirenidae
- 4 gill clefts; body length growing to about 1.25 metres (about 4 feet). 1 living species (Lepidosiren paradoxa).
Some writers assign Dipnoi to the ordinal level, subsuming several families—mostly extinct—within that order.