Skip to main content

Cartilaginous versus Bony Fishes

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

Cartilaginous fishes, such as sharks, build their skeleton from cartilage; bony fishes, the more diverse group, build theirs from bone.

Show

A ray's flexible cartilage skeleton contrasts with a tuna's rigid bony skeleton, including the buoyancy-control swim bladder many bony fishes use.

Watch for

Cartilage is not an unfinished form of bone — cartilaginous fish retain it as a stable adult material.