cartilaginous fish

American  

[kahr-tuhl-aj-uh-nuhs fish] / ˌkɑr təlˈædʒ ə nəs ˈfɪʃ /

noun

1. Zoology. any fish of the class Chondrichthyes, characterized by having jaws and a skeleton of cartilage rather than bone, the members of which include the sharks, skates, rays, and chimaeras.

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cartilaginous fish British  

noun

1. any fish of the class Chondrichthyes, including the sharks, skates, and rays, having a skeleton composed entirely of cartilage

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cartilaginous fish Scientific  

/ kär′tl-ăj′ə-nəs /

1. Any of various fishes of the class Selachii (or Chondrichthyes), having a skeleton that is made of cartilage. Cartilaginous fishes breathe through gill slits, of which there are usually five, and their toothlike or platelike scales (called denticles) are made of dentine and enamel. Sharks, rays, skates, sawfish, and chimaeras are cartilaginous fishes.

2. Compare bony fish jawless fish

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cartilaginous fish

Spotted ratfish also use pelvic claspers for mating, similar to many other cartilaginous fish.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025

Yet sharks and other cartilaginous fish do have smell receptors closely related to bitter taste receptors.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 12, 2023

One paper describes a collection of spines, scales and head-plates from an animal named Fanjingshania renovata, all of them dead-ringers for later examples of cartilaginous fish.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2022

Rays are close evolutionary relatives of sharks, sharing the taxonomical subclass Elasmobranchii, a group of cartilaginous fish that can be traced back hundreds of millions of years.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2022

They are mentioned under the two former names by Aristotle in his treatise on Animals, where he classes them under the head of cartilaginous fish.

From The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athen?us by Athen?us