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Lungfish

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A marbled lungfish, a unique freshwater fish with lung-like structures, swimming in its natural habitat.

Lungfish

Lungfish are very special fish that can breathe air like we do! They live in freshwater and have lungs instead of just gills. This helps them when there isn’t enough oxygen in the water.

There are only six kinds of lungfish today. You can find them in Africa, South America, and Australia. Long ago, they lived all over the world. Scientists have found fossils of lungfish that are over 410 million years old!

Lungfish look a bit like eels, with long bodies and fins. Some of them can even survive when their homes dry up. They burrow into the mud and rest until the water comes back. One lungfish named “Granddad” lived for 109 years in a Chicago aquarium!

Lungfish are important because they are close relatives of animals that live on land, like frogs, reptiles, birds, and mammals. They help scientists learn about how life moved from water to land long ago.

Images

A Queensland lungfish named Granddad on display at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.
An illustration of the Barramunda fish from a historical scientific guide.
Scientific illustration showing the anatomy of the South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa, with labeled features like the mouth, scales, and more.
Illustration of a West African Lungfish, showcasing this unique freshwater fish known for its ability to breathe air.
Illustration of a lungfish (Protopterus dolloi).
Restoration of Ceratodus, an ancient prehistoric fish.
An artist’s reconstruction of Dipterus valenciennesi, an ancient fish species from the fossil record.
An artistic restoration of Phaneropleuron andersoni, an ancient lungfish, showing what scientists believe this prehistoric creature may have looked like.
An illustrated drawing of a Barramunda fish from a scientific book published in 1898.
An artist’s reconstruction of Gnathorhiza, an ancient lungfish from the Permian-Triassic period.
An East African lungfish, also known as a gilled lungfish, shown in an aquarium setting.

Related articles

Oxygen
Africa
South America
Australia
Chicago

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Lungfish, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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