The scientific class name for the lobe-finned fishes, characterized by fleshy fins containing internal skeletal structures.
From Greek 'crossos' (fringe) + 'pteryx' (fin), with the Latin plural ending '-ii'. This Linnaean taxonomic classification dates to the 19th-century scientific naming systems.
The name literally means 'fringe-fins,' and these fish had the most radical innovation in vertebrate history hidden inside those fins—bones that would eventually become our hands, feet, and limbs!
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