Sarcopterygii
superclass or class of fishes
Sarcopterygii (; from Ancient Greek σάρξ (sárx) 'flesh' and πτέρυξ (ptérux) 'wing, fin') is a clade (traditionally a class or subclass) of vertebrate animals which includes a group of bony fishes and all four legged land animals, including humans. The common name for this clade is lobe-finned fish.
Lobe-finned fish have muscular limb buds (lobes) within their fins, which are supported by appendicular skeletons. This is in contrast to the other clade of bony fishes, the Actinopterygii, which have only skin-covered bony spines supporting the fins.
Sarcopterygii emerged in the Silurian and early Devonian periods consisting entirely of aquatic species, but today the vast majority of its species are land animals called tetrapods. This mostly terrestrial clade of vertebrates are now recognized as having evolved from sarcopterygian ancestors and are most closely related to lungfishes. The lobed fins evolved into limbs, and foregut diverticulum eventually evolved into air-breathing lungs. These changes made it possible for tetrapods to explore and eventually permeate terrestrial ecosystems. While it is technically correct to include tetrapod species with Sarcopterygii, the phrase "lobe-finned fish" normally refers to the aquatic species that are not tetrapods.
Most species of lobe-finned fish are now extinct, but during the Carboniferous and Permian periods these non-tetrapod sarcopterygians were dominant predators of freshwater ecosystems.
The public source identifies “Sarcopterygii” as superclass or class of fishes. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sarcopterygii, superclass and class.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q160830. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sarcopterygii” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.