By way of an example lets consider the charming little African catfish Microsynodontis batesii, by following the red item from left to right in each of the alphabetically sorted columns below you can see how this one species fits into the classification structure of every living organism known to science. (i.e. Animals, Vertebrae, Fish, True Bony Fish, Siluriformes (Catfish), Mockokidae, Microsynodontis, batesii). Please note that the examples of each category given (in brackets) are not exhaustive but merely examples of the category. Entries in the Family column that do not have examples are very rarely (if ever) imported and thus do not have widespread common names.

Living Organisms	Phylum	Class	Sub-Class	Order	Family	Genus	Species
Animals	Annelids (Earthworms, Leech, Ragworms)	Amphibians (Frogs, Toads, Newts)	Bony Fish (Sturgeons, Garpikes)	Anguilliformes (True Eels)	Akysidae	Acanthocleithron	batesii
Bacteria	Arthropods (Crustacea, Insects, Arachnids, Myriapods)	Birds (Parrot, Stork, Albatross)	Cartilaginous Fish (Sharks, Rays)	Atheriniformes(Killifish, Livebearing Toothcarps, Rainbowfish)	Amblycipitidae (Asian Banjo Catfish)	Atopochilus	lamerti
Fungi	Coelenterates (Sea anenome, Jellyfish, Coral)	Fish (Shark, Trout, Tuna)	Round Mouthed Fish (Lamprey, Hagfish)	Mormyriformes (Elephant Noses, Baby Whales)	Amphiliidae (Loach Catfish)	Brachysynodontis	polli
Plants	Flatworms (Planarians, Liver Fluke, Tapeworm)	Mammals (Human, Whale, Rat)	True Bony Fish (Carp, Cichlids, Grouper)	Salmoniformes(Salmon, Trout)	Ariidae (Sea Catfish)	Chiloglanis
Single-celled Organisms	Molluscs (Mussel, Snail, Octopus)	Reptiles (Snake, Gecko, Iguana)		Gonorhynchiformes	Aspredinidae (Banjo Catfish)	Euchilichthys
	Vertebrates (Animals with backbones)			Cypriniformes(Characins, Cyprinids, Knife Fish)	Astroblepidae (South American Hillstream Catfishes)	Hemisynodontis
				Siluriformes(Catfish)	Auchenipteridae (Driftwood Catfish)	Microsynodontis
				Osteoglossiformes (Arowana, Freshwater Butterfly Fish)	Austroglanididae (Rock Catfishes)	Mochkus
				Gasterosteiformes (Sticklebacks)	Bagridae (Giraffe Catfish, Black Lancer Catfish)	Synodontis
				Syngnathiformes (Pipefish)	Callichthyidae (Flag Tailed Catfish, Bronze Cory)
				Channiformes (Snakeheads)	Cetopsidae(Whale Catfish)
				Synbranchiformes (Synbrachid Eels)	Chacidae (Frog Mouth Catfish)
				Scorpaeniformes (Sculpins)	Clariidae (Walking Catfish)
				Perciformes (Cichlids, Gobies, Gouramis)	Claroteidae (Giraffe Catfish)
				Mastacembeliformes (Spiny Eels)	Cranoglanididae (Chinese Catfish)
				Pleuronectiformes (Plaice, Sole)	Diplomystidae (Dyplomystes)
				Tetraodontiformes (Pufferfish, Triggerfish, Boxfish)	Doradidae (Talking / Raphael Catfish)
					Erethistidae(Moth Catfishes)
					Heteropneustidae (Liver / Fossil / Stinging Catfish)
					Ictaluridae (Bullheads, Channel Catfish)
					Loricariidae (Suckermouth Catfish)
					Malapteruridae (Electric Catfish)
					Mochokidae (Upside Down Catfish, Polka Dot Catfish)
					Pangasiidae (Iridescent Shark)
					Pimelodidae (Tiger Shovelnose Catfish, Pimpictus)
					Plotosidae (Eel-Tailed Catfish)
					Schilbeidae (Butter Catfish, False Glass Catfish)
					Siluridae (Glass Catfish, Helicopter Catfish)
					Scoloplacidae
					Sisoridae
					Trichomycteridae (Parasite Catfish)