Six species of air-breathing freshwater fish in Africa, South America and Australia, the closest living relatives of land vertebrates. Their lobed fins have a bony skeleton inside, and their fossil record goes back more than 410 million years.
Quick answers
What is it?Fish
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?In places
At a glance
Found inAfrica, South America, Australia, Rivers
HabitatRivers & lakes, Wetland
ColoursBrown, Grey
SizeLarge
LengthUp to 2 m (marbled lungfish, the largest African species)
LegsNone
Covered inScales
Lives alone
Lives for25–100 years
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Africa, South America and Australia; lungfish once lived all over the world.
- What it eats
- Crustaceans, worms, molluscs, amphibians and plant matter, crushed with tooth plates.
Did you know
Survives droughts sealed in mud, breathing air, with its metabolism slowed to a sixtieth.
An Australian lungfish called Granddad lived at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium from 1933 to 2017 and died at about 109.
The Australian lungfish has only one lung; the other species have two.
Often confused with
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