Cladogram of Sharks and
Related Taxa
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Figure
adapted from Pough, 1999. It is not meant
to describe all shark relatives, but rather to place Galeomorphs in a
relative context. For a more complete view of shark and other vertebrate
evolution, see The
Tree of Life.
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| The fast-swimming sharks described in this web site are members of the Galeomorpha. This is one of the earliest clades to possess jaws. Note that the Actinopterygii gave rise to an enormous radiation of fish know as the Teleosts. Over 19,000 of the 24,000 described living species of what we call "bony fish" belong to the Teleosts (Pough 1999). Certain Teleost species are known to have tooth-like dermal denticles located outside of the jaw (Sire et al. 1998). |
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