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