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bony fish

American  

noun

  1. any fish of the class Osteichthyes, characterized by gill covers, an air bladder, and a skeleton composed of bone in addition to cartilage.


bony fish British  

noun

  1. any fish of the class Osteichthyes , including most of the extant species, having a skeleton of bone rather than cartilage

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

bony fish Scientific  
/ bōnē /
  1. Any of numerous ray-finned fishes belonging to the infraclass Teleostei or Teleostomi, having a skeleton that is completely made of bone, rather than partially or completely made of cartilage. Most living species of fish are bony fish.

  2. Also called teleost

  3. Compare cartilaginous fish jawless fish


Etymology

Origin of bony fish

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The fossils come from a 249 million year old marine community that included extinct reptiles, amphibians, bony fish, and sharks.

From Science Daily

Yes, bony fish have bones, but they can be a pain to deal with.

From Salon

They compared this to a remarkable new specimen of Pachystropheus, known as 'Annie', that contains hundreds of bones from several individuals, as well as evidence of sharks, bony fish, and even terrestrial dinosaurs.

From Science Daily

Other winners of a slimy new epoch would be ocean sunfish, a giant bony fish whose individuals can clock in at more than 2,000 pounds and consume jellyfish — and velella — in mass quantities.

From Los Angeles Times

That was the accepted wisdom until 2016, when Crump and his colleagues found genetic evidence that bony fish—which evolved about 410 million years ago, also have these joints.

From Science Magazine