Fish Flashcards
Vertebral Column
Another term for spinal column
Neural crest
temporary group of cells unique to vertebrates that arise from the embryonic ectoderm cell layer, and in turn give rise to a diverse cell lineage – including melanocytes, craniofacial cartilage and bone, smooth muscle, peripheral and enteric neurons and glia.
Fin
flattened appendage on various parts of the body of many aquatic vertebrates and some invertebrates, including fish and cetaceans, used for propelling, steering, and balancing.
Scale
each of the small, thin horny or bony plates protecting the skin of fish and reptiles, typically overlapping one another.
Operculum
technical term for gill cover
Atrium
two upper cavities of the heart from which blood is passed to the ventricles.
Ventricle
a hollow part or cavity in an organ, in particular.
each of the two main chambers of the heart, left and right.
Nephron
each of the functional units in the kidney, consisting of a glomerulus and its associated tubule, through which the glomerular filtrate passes before emerging as urine.
Lateral line
a visible line along the side of a fish consisting of a series of sense organs that detect pressure and vibration.
Spawning
release or deposit eggs.
Swim bladder
an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of a fish to control its buoyancy, and thus to stay at the current water depth without having to waste energy in swimming.
Jawless fish
marine and freshwater fishes lacking a jaw and paired appendages,
Cartilaginious fish
jawed vertebrates with paired fins, paired nares, scales, a heart with its chambers in series, and skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone.
Bony fish
fish of a large class distinguished by a skeleton of bone, and comprising the majority of modern fishes.
Devonian period
geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period
Bowfin/Dogfish
basal bony fishes related to gars in the infraclass Holostei. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, griddle, grinnel, cypress trout and choupique
Brown Bulhead
fish of the Ictaluridae family that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead and yellow bullhead
Brown Trout
the common trout of Europe, especially one of a nonmigratory race with dark spotted skin, that occurs in small rivers and pools. It has been introduced into North America as a game fish.
Burbot/Elpout
only gadiform freshwater fish. Also known as mariah, freshwater ling, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod and eelpout, the burbot is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk.
Channel catfish
An edible freshwater catfish of North America, having spots on the side and long barbels. Also called channel cat.
Common carp
widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.
Crappie
genus, Pomoxis, of North American freshwater fish in the sunfish family Centrarchidae. Both species in this genus are popular game fish
Flathead catfish
one of a number of small to medium fish species with notably flat heads, distributed in membership across various genera of the family Platycephalidae
Lake sturgen
is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of this type of fish.
Lake trout
freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, lake char, touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also be variously known as siscowet, paperbelly and lean
Largemouth bass
freshwater gamefish in the sunfish family, a species of black bass native to North America.
Long-nose Gar
is a primitive ray-finned fish of the gar family. It is also known as the needlenose gar. Wikipedia
Muskellunge
species of large, relatively uncommon freshwater fish native to North America. The muskellunge is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae
Northern pike
known simply as a pike in Britain, Ireland, most of Canada, and most parts of the United States, is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox. They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere.
Rainbow trout
species of salmonid native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America.
Sauger
freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae which resembles its close relative the walleye. They are members of the largest vertebrate order, Perciformes. They are the most migratory percid species in North America.
Sheepshead
trick-taking card game related to the Skat family of games. It is the Americanized version of a card game that originated in Central Europe in the late 18th century under the German name Schafkopf.
Smallmouth bass
is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus
Smelt
family of small fish, Osmeridae, found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They are also known as freshwater smelts or typical smelts to distinguish them from the related Argentinidae, Bathylagidae, and Retropinnidae.
Sunfish
family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus
Walleye
freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch
White sucker
freshwater Cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but is also found as far south as Georgia and New Mexico in the south and west
Yellow bullhead
species of bullhead catfish that is a ray-finned fish that lacks scales.
Yellow perch
commonly referred to as perch, is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill from New York.
