Class Actinopterygii

Eucarya > Animalia > Chordata >

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the vast majority of water is of the flowing variety.  Therefore the current 75 species of ray-finned fishes must be able to navigate and successfully exist somewhere within the Park's 2,100 + miles of flowing water.  Even the large reservoirs on the South and Western border of the Park are merely impounding the Little Tennessee River, with quite a volume of flow-through.

The Actinopterygii encompass all but 2 species of fishes (exceptions being lampreys not yet entered into the ATBI database) that inhabit the Park.  In fact, of all of the world's fishes, this class represents approximately 95% of the species in existance.

Actinopterygii species are fishes that are set apart by the presence of jaws, and fin rays that connect, via spines, to their internal skeleton.

The following are the array of taxonomic orders of Actinopterygii found, to-date, in the Park.

Order	Common Name	Photo Example	Where?
Atheriniformes	Silversides		here
Cypriniformes	Minnows and Suckers		here
Cyprinodontiformes	Topminnows and Livebearers	(NA)	here
Perciformes	Spiny-rayed Perch-like Fishes		here
Salmoniformes	Trouts		here
Scorpaeniformes	Sculpins		here
Siluriformes	Catfishes		here

References:
Etnier, David A. and Wayne C. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Tennessee. University of Tennessee Press. Knoxville, Tennessee.

Parker, Charles R. and David W. Pipes. 1990. Watersheds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: A Geographical Information System Analysis. Research/Resource Management Report SER-91/01. United States Department of Interior, National Park Service.