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Lungfish have a highly specialized respiratory system. They have a distinct feature in that their lungs are connected to the larynx and pharynx without a trachea. While other species of fish can breathe air using modified, vascularized gas bladders, [6] these bladders are usually simple sacs, devoid of complex internal structure.
The African lungfish is an example of how the evolutionary transition from breathing water to breathing air can occur. Lungfish are periodically exposed to water with low oxygen content or encounter situations in which their aquatic environment dries up.
Lungfish, with the exception of the Australian lungfish, and bichirs have paired lungs similar to those of tetrapods and must surface to gulp fresh air through the mouth and pass spent air out through the gills. Gar and bowfin have a vascularized swim bladder that functions in the same way.
The West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens), also known as the Tana lungfish or simply African lungfish, is a species of African lungfish. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] It is found in a wide range of freshwater habitats in West and Middle Africa , as well as the northern half of Southern Africa .
Ceratodontiformes is the only extant order of lungfish, containing the families Neoceratodontidae, Lepidosirenidae, and Protopteridae as well as many other extinct groups. Members of this group are the only lungfish known to have survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event .
The South American lungfish is an extraordinary creature - in some sense, a living fossil. Inhabiting slow-moving and stagnant waters in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana ...
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The labyrinth organs, a defining characteristic of fish in the suborder Anabantoidei, is a much-folded suprabranchial accessory breathing organ.It is formed by vascularized expansion of the epibranchial bone of the first gill arch and used for respiration in air.