Aquatics Flashcards
What is a reef tank defined as?
A marine environment designed specifically to suit the growth of coral.
What is a brackish tank defined as?
A combination between salt and freshwater for fish that prefer salinity in their water without a full marine environment.
What is a planted tank defined as?
It can be freshwater, brackish or marine in nature that are focused on growing plants. It can house living creatures as well.
What is a freshwater tank defined as?
A receptacle that holds one or more freshwater organisms for decorative, pet keeping or research purposes.
What is a Coldwater tank defined as?
A tank that houses fish that don’t require a heating apparatus (e.g. goldfish).
What is a tropical tank defined as?
(aggressive fish and community tank considerations too)
A tank which maintains a warm environment with a temperature ranging between 24-27 degrees Celsius.
Aggressive fish (e.g. black skirt, silver dollar) shouldn’t be kept with other fish with long-flowing fins.
Community tanks house large numbers of species that make a successful community (these fish don’t normally co-exist in the wild)
Saltwater tanks:
A _____ tank is needed as salt water organisms are used to a ____ _____ _____.
________ and ________ balances need to be exact as well as the _______ schedule.
A (large) tank is needed as salt water organisms are used to a (vast ocean space).
(mineral) and (chemical) balances need to be exact as well as the (feeding) schedule.
Filtration (mechanical)
Type:
Purpose:
Type: wool and sponge
Purpose: remove large particulate waste
Filtration (biological)
Type:
Purpose:
Type: ceramic, sponges, rocks and surface area
Purpose: removes fish waste product
Filtration (chemical)
Type:
Purpose:
Type: charcoal and zeolite
Purpose: removes odours, discolouration, toxins and some waste products.
Name some examples of freshwater organisms:
mickey mouse platy
guppies
zebra danio
neon tetra
white cloud minnow
harlequin rasbora
java moss
java fern
amazon sword
anachris
hornwort
Classification of fish: Agnatha?
• Jawless
• A notochord (a cartilaginous skeletal rod supporting the body in all embryonic and some adult chordate animals)
• paired gill pouches
• two-chambered heart
• examples: lamprey, hagfish
Classification of fish: Chondritchyes
• Cartilaginous
• mostly marine
• have jaws
• paired fins
• hard scales
• two-chambered heart
• have nostrils
• examples: great white shark, spiny dogfish, common eagle ray
Classification of fish: Osteichthyes
• Skeletal/bony fish (remember: oseto = bones)
• scales
• paired fins
• one pair of gill openings
• jaws
• paired nostrils
• examples: ocean sunfish, Atlantic salmon, swordfish
Chordata:
Has a spine
Cnidaria:
Jellyfish, sea anemones. They have stinging cells.
Porifera:
Sponges (remember PORE-ifera)
What are the 5 kingdoms?
• Animalia
• Plantae
• Fungus
• Bacteria
• Protists
Mollusca:
Snails, slugs, molluscs
Annelida:
Worms
Arthropoda:
Insects, arachnids
Echinodermata:
Starfish
Name 4 species of Agnatha:
(These are just some examples, google yours to check if it’s correct)
• pacific hagfish
• western Brook lamprey
• pouched lamprey
• sanchaspis megalorostrata
Name some Chondrichthyes species
(These are just some examples, google yours to check if it’s correct)
• lemons shark
• Australian ghost shark
• common eagle ray
• scalloped hammerhead
• blacktip reef shark
• frilled shark
• nursehound
• small tooth sand tiger
• Mille shark
• porbeagle
Name some species of oestichthyes:
(These are just some examples, google yours to check if it’s correct)
• Atlantic salmon
• swordfish
• Atlantic cod
• angler
• northern pike
• European bass
• turbot
• garibaldi
• European eel
• mahi mahi
(Whales)
What does mystercetis mean?
How does this work?
The animal is baleen - filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. The whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and remain as a food source for the whale.
(Whales)
What does odentocentis mean?
Toothed (e.g. sperm whale)
Where is the caudal fin? What does it do?
The caudal fin, or tail, of a fish is the only fin to be connected to the vertebral column. It is the primary means of locomotion for most fish. Unlike many marine mammals with tails that use an up-and-down motion, fish generally use a side-to-side thrust of their caudal fin for propulsion.
Kidneys:
In fish, the kidney only serves an osmoregulatory function; the excretion of nitrogenous waste occurs at the gill where ammonia is excreted as quickly as it is produced
Dorsal fin:
The dorsal fin is located on the top of a fish along the back between the head and tail. A fish may have a single dorsal fin or two connected or unconnected fins. The dorsal fins increase the lateral surface of the body during swimming, and thereby provide stability but at the expense of increasing drag.
Swim bladder:
This is a thin-walled sac located inside the body of a fish that is usually filled with gas. Besides helping fishes stay buoyant it can also function as a sound producer and receptor or as an accessory respiratory organ.
Oesophagus:
The oesophagus in bony fish is short and expandable so that large objects can be swallowed. The oesophagus walls are layered with muscle and lead to the stomach.
Operculum:
The operculum is the bony flap that protects the gills from harm. It opens and closes to allow water to pass over the gills.
Gills:
Gills are branching organs located on the side of fish heads that have many, many small blood vessels called capillaries. As the fish opens its mouth, water runs over the gills, and blood in the capillaries picks up oxygen that’s dissolved in the water.
Heart:
The systemic heart of fishes consists of four chambers in series, the sinus venosus, atrium, ventricle, and conus or bulbus. Valves between the chambers and contraction of all chambers except the bulbus maintain a unidirectional blood flow through the heart.
Pelvic fin:
The pelvic fin stabilizes the fish while swimming and allows for up-and-down movement in the water. (They look like little arms)
Liver:
The fish liver consists essentially of parenchyma tissue usually formed from double layers of liver cells separated from each other by capillary-like blood spaces called liver sinusoids. The liver is an organ that stores carbohydrates as glycogen and, especially before spawning, fats.
Stomach:
The stomach varies greatly in fishes, depending upon the diet. In most predacious fishes it is a simple straight or curved tube or pouch with a muscular wall and a glandular lining. Food is largely digested there and leaves the stomach in liquid form.
Intestine:
In fish, there is no true large intestine, but simply a short rectum connecting the end of the digestive part of the gut to the cloaca. In sharks, this includes a rectal gland that secretes salt to help the animal maintain osmotic balance with the seawater.
Reproductive organs:
Fish reproductive organs include testes and ovaries. In most species, gonads are paired organs of similar size, which can be partially or totally fused. There may also be a range of secondary organs that increase reproductive fitness.
Anal fin:
a median ventral unpaired fin, situated between the anus and the tail fin in fishes, that helps to maintain stable equilibrium.
Lateral line:
Lateral line information is used for prey detection, spatial orientation, predator avoidance, schooling behavior, intraspecific communication and station holding. The lateral line of most fishes consists of superficial neuromasts (SNs) and canal neuromasts (CNs).
What are superficial neuromasts?
Superficial neuromasts are structures that detect water flow on the surface of the body of fish and amphibians.
What are canal neuromasts?
Canal neuromasts are embedded in lateral line canals and sensitive to pressure gradients between canal pores.
Name some saltwater organisms:
• Ocellan’s clownfish
• coral beauty angelfish
• flame angelfish
• lawnmower Blenny
• avriga butterflyfish
• raccoon butterflyfish
