Fish Lab Species Flashcards
Cyclostomi (“Agnathans”)
primitive fish-like vertebrates lacking true jaws with an endoskeletal support; bone and paired appendages lacking in living and fossil species (e.g. hagfishes, lampreys, and various extinct forms such as the ostracoderms).
Gill slits or # of gill openings
Mouth structures are oval or round
Typically lack pectoral, pelvic fins
Reduced cuadul fin
Lampreys have a little more dorsal fin to them
Gnathostomata
Have jaws derived from modified gill arches; paired appendages usually present.
Class Placodermi – extinct.
Clade Acanthodii* – extinct.
Class Chondrichthyes- chimeras, rays and skates, sharks.
Class Sarcopterygii
Coelacanthimorpha – coelacanths.
Subclass Porolepimorpha + Dipnoi – lungfishes.
Class Actinopterygii (= most Osteichthyes)
Primitive Ray-finned Fishes
Order Acipenseriformes
sturgeons and paddlefishes. Lake sturgeon
found in Alberta.
Basel forms
Rows of dermal plates —> armour
Might have burbuls = whisker protrusions
Upper jaw elongated
Pectoral fins low
Pelvic fins abdominal
Fusiform
Primitive Ray-finned Fishes
Order Amiiformes
Amia (bowfin).
Basel group
Red colouration
Pectoral fin low
Pelvic fin abdominal
Terminal mouth
Sport fish
Unique to them is large plate between their jaws on the bottom of head
Relativity long dorsal fin, not entire body
Is an actinoterygii
Division Teleostei
higher bony fishes; lots of cranial ossification; scales usually cycloid or ctenoid; tail usually homocercal; swim bladder usually present at some point during development; no spiral valve in intes
Order Hiodontiformes
bony tongues. Goldeye and mooneye found in Alberta.
Compressed body
Strong ventral keel, a ridge running down ventral surface
Silver
Dorsal fin near tail
Superior mouth
Pectoral fin low
Pelvic fin abdominal
Anal fin
Order Anguilliformes
Eels
Anguiform swimming
Long squiggly fishes like hagfish
Often have pectoral fins, high if have them
Often dorsal, cuadul, anal fins run together into 1 ribbon around fish
Terminal mouth
Spots or grey colouration
Order Clupeiformes
Herrings
Fishy looking fish
Small size
Compressed body
Community fish
Silver body
Superior mouth
Pectoral find low
Pelvic fin abdominal
Anal fin
Superorder Ostariophysi
Diverse group, predominantly freshwater fishes. Name refers to small bones that connect air bladder with inner ear (Weberian ossicles).
Front vertebrae has adaptations that connect it to the back of the skull with their swim bladders acts as drum to amplify vibrations = hearing
Order Cypriniformes
minnows, carps, suckers. Represented in Alberta by chubs, minnows, shiners, dace, suckers, quillback, and squawfish
Inferior mouth —> bottom feeding
Pairs of pectoral fins, low
Single dorsal fin
Fusiform and compressed
Algae eaters
Ventral strips
Pelvic fins abdominal
Ray fins
May have modified mouth parts
Order Siluriformes
catfishes. Stonecat found in Alberta
Slightly more depressed than compressed
Inferior mouth —> suction feeding
Pay fins but some pectoral fins and dorsal may have 1 spine in the very front of it, may be venomous
Countershading
Most extreme example of burbuls, up to 4 sets
Superorder Protancanthopterygii
contains Salmoniformes which is considered to be the ancestral stock of more advanced teleosts; maxilla included in gape.
Order Esociformes
mudminnow and pike. Well represented in Alberta.
Predator fish in fresh water
Greater example of positioning of fins that tells you something (how it moves) b/c dorsal and anal fins so far back = quick acceleration
Not a marathon fish
Fusiform body
Dorsal fin very far back
Pectoral fins low
Pelvic fins abdominal
Spots, stripes and brown and greys, not much countershainf if any
Lower jaw is longer and points upward, hook jaw but not as intense as salmon. Flat ish too
Have an anal fin
Order Salmoniformes
salmon, trout. Well represented in Alberta by cisco, several species of whitefish, arctic grayling, and several species of trout.
Red colouration, also spots
Single dorsal fin ray
Pectoral fin low
Pelvic fin abdominal
Superior or terminal mouth some have hook jaw
Adipose fin
Compressed body
Look for 2 dorsal fins that doesn’t have rays or spines, it’s fleshly = adipose
Superorder Paracanthopterygii
grouped by convergence rather than common ancestry (grouping is questionable).
Order Percopsiformes
trout-perch found in Alberta
Not a trout or perch
Relatively small fish
Fairly long and skinny but not eel like body
Distinct dorsal and anal fins with long fin rays
Dorsal fin closer to tail
White/clear colouration —> deep sea for clear
Pelvic fin thoracic
Order Gadiformes
cods. Burbot found in Alberta.
Commercial fish
Marine and fresh water
Look for a single burbul directly under chin
Relatively long dorsal fins, sim to bowfin (amia)
Dorsal fin spans much of back
Slim body
Pectoral fin High
Pelvic fin sometimes becomes one long one
Ray fins
Terminal mouth
2 dorsal fins
Superorder Acanthopterygii
(Spiny-rayed fishes) – refined feeding and locomotory structures; very diverse types; variety of specialized feeding mechanisms; dominant surface and shallow marine fishes.
Order Gasterosteiformes*A – sticklebacks in Alberta.
Order Syngnathiformes
Seahorses, pipefishes.
Odd fish
Long and skinny but sometimes curl up
Also have elongated rostrum —> beck like structured mouth
Needle like body or something else
Terminal mouth
Not many have dorsal fin
Red coulourarion
Pectoral fin high if has it
Order Scorpaeniformes
scorpion fishes, rockfishes, sculpins. Several species of sculpin found in Alberta.
Scor —> scorpion —> have pointy stringers —> stingers, spiked, prickly and points
Venomous
Orange colouration
Spines on fin
Compressed body
Superior mouth
Pelvic thoracic?
Order Perciformes
perch. In Alberta represented by the Iowa darter, log perch, yellow perch, sauger and walleye; jewel cichlid introduced in Banff.
Colourful
Pectoral fin low or high
Terminal mouth, some point upwards
2 dorsal fins
Spines and rays
Pelvic fins thoratic
Anal fins too
Order Pleuronectiformes
flounders, soles.
Flat fish
Bony fish
Early in development normal compressed fish, one of eyes migrated across skull to other side and then basically fall over one day and live life with one of their sides down on the groun
Lighter side does have opertulum, gill opening, pectoral find
Acts as a depressed fish tho
Dorsal fins has spines? And is from behind head and ends at tail
Same with pelvic fin
Terminal mouth
Pectoral fins high
