FISHES
How many species of cartilaginous fishes are there?
1,000 species
What are some difference between cartilaginous fishes and bony fishes?
Cartilaginous fishes have a cartilage skeleton. Bony fishes have a bony skeleton. Bony fishes use a swim bladder, but cartilaginous fish use the fluid dynamics of their fins and tails to lift. Bony fish inhale through their mouth and exhale through gills, cartilaginous fishes inhale through spiracles and diffuses through their mouth.
What is the class of sharks, rays and skates?
Elasmobranchii
What are the four scale types of marine fishes?
Ganoid, cycloid, ctenoid, cosmoid
What are subphylum are acorn worms found in?
Hemichordata
What is the most common tail type in sharks?
Heterocercal
What are the four types of fins?
Heterocercal, homocercal, protocercal, diphycercal
Are all fishes color blind?
Most of them are, but some have color vision
What did the bony fishes evolve from?
Ostracoderms (jawless fishes)
Name some differences between skates and rays.
Skates are oviparous, have small teeth, and have prominent dorsal fins. Rays are viviparous, have large plate-like teeth for crushing prey, and have no/few dorsal fins.
Where are lancelets found? (subphylum)
Subphylum Cephalochordata
How are the scales and teeth of sharks related?
Their teeth are modified scales.
What are the ear stones or otoliths for?
They sense changes in the water column
What are the 3 subphyla of phylum Chordata?
Urochordata, Cephalochordata, Vertebrata
What is the swim bladder?
a sac filled with mixed gases used to control buoyancy
What is the nictitating membrane? What group of fishes has this?
a translucent, horizontally moving eyelid that protects the eye; cartilaginous fishes have this to protect their eyes when feeding
What organs are used to detect electrical fields?
ampullae of Lorenzini
How does the lamprey feed?
attach suckers to fish and parasitize them
What are myomeres? Which fishes have them?
bands of muscles to generate motion; both cartilaginous and bony fishes have them
What is countercurrent flow? Why is it so important?
blood flows in opposite direction of water from gills; gives more oxygen to blood returning to the body
What is the most prominent group of vertebrates?
bony fishes
What is ovoviviparous reproduction?
born live; free-swimming in the womb
What is the class of jawless fishes?
class Agnatha
What is the class of Cartilaginous fishes?
class Chondrichthys
What is the class of the bony fishes?
class Osteichthyes
What type of circulatory system do bony fishes have?
closed circulatory system with a 2-chambered heart
What are some adaptations of bony fish?
cryptic coloration, disruptive coloration, warning coloration, countershading, commensalism, mutualism, parasitism
What type of fins do Coelacanths have?
diphycercal
What is oviparous reproduction?
egg laying; egg cases are called mermaid's purses
How do hagfishes feed? What do they feed on?
feed on worms, shrimp, dead fish; tie themselves into a knot to rip off flesh
What is a demersal fish?
fishes that live on the ocean bottom
Where are lampreys found?
freshwater
What is the most primitive scale type?
ganoid scale
What is an operculum?
gill cover
Name a species that possesses a cycloid scale.
jungle perch, rainbow trout
What organ senses vibrations?
lateral line
What is viviparous reproduction?
live birth; there is a parental connection
What are 4 characteristics of chordates?
notochord, pharyngeal gill slits, post-anal tail, dorsal nerve cord
Describe the smell sense of cartilaginous fishes.
olfactory sacs on both sides of the head near the brain
What do some cartilaginous fishes eat?
other smaller fish, marine animals like seals, whales, crustaceans, shrimp, plankton, krill
What is the habitat of jawless fishes?
primarily marine
What are the two types of bony fish?
ray-finned fishes and lobed-finned fishes
What would you find in Subphylum Urochordata?
sea squirts and tunicates
What is the hagfish's primary defense mechanism?
secretes slime from skin to scare away predators; tastes NAST-AY
What are some cartilaginous fishes?
sharks, rays, skates, ratfish, ghost sharks
Why is there often only one live offspring during ovoviviparous reproduction?
siblings fight and consume each other in the womb; the stronger one eats the other embryos
How do most people date sharks' ages?
they use the inner ear
What are the only animals to have cellulose in their bodies?
tunicates/sea squirts
What type of scales do cartilaginous fishes have?
typically plastoid scales
Name the three ways cartilaginous fish reproduce?
viviparous, oviparous, ovoviviparous
Name a shark species that eats plankton.
whale shark, basking shark
What do some fishes have instead of taste buds?
whisper-like barbels