Fish Vocab

Question 1

Vertebral Column

Answer 1

The spine, or the backbone.

Question 2

Neural Crest

Answer 2

group of embryonic cells that are pinched off during the formation of the neural tube (the precursor of the spinal cord) but that do not remain as a part of the central nervous system.

Question 3

Fin

Answer 3

a 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.

Question 4

Scale

Answer 4

each of the small, thin horny or bony plates protecting the skin of fish and reptiles, typically overlapping one another.

Question 5

Operculum

Answer 5

a structure that closes or covers an aperture, in particular.

Question 6

Atrium

Answer 6

each of the two upper cavities of the heart from which blood is passed to the ventricles.

Question 7

Ventricle

Answer 7

a hollow part or cavity in an organ, in particular.

each of the two main chambers of the heart, left and right.

Question 8

Nephron

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Lateral Line

Answer 9

a system of sense organs found in aquatic vertebrates, used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water

Question 10

Spawning

Answer 10

release or deposit eggs.

Question 11

Swim Bladder

Answer 11

a gas-filled sac present in the body of many bony fishes, used to maintain and control buoyancy.

Question 12

Jawless Fish

Answer 12

Any of various primitive fish of the class Agnatha that lack jaws

Question 13

Cartilaginous Fish

Answer 13

fish of a class distinguished by having a skeleton of cartilage rather than bone, including the sharks, rays, and chimeras.

Question 14

Bony Fish

Answer 14

a fish of a large class distinguished by a skeleton of bone, and comprising the majority of modern fishes.

Question 15

Devonian Period

Answer 15

a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic, spanning 60 million years from the end of the Silurian, 419.2 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, 358.9 Mya.

Question 16

Bowfin/Dogfish

Answer 16

a small sand-colored bottom-dwelling shark with a long tail, common on European coasts.

Question 17

Brown Bullhead

Answer 17

an American freshwater catfish with four pairs of barbels around the mouth.

Question 18

Brown Trout

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Burbot/Eelpout

Answer 19

a fish of cool or cold seas, having a broad head with thick lips and an elongated body with the dorsal and anal fins continuous with the tail.

Question 20

Channel Catfish

Answer 20

a common North American freshwater catfish that has a pale blue to olive back with dark spots.

Question 21

Common Carp

Answer 21

a deep-bodied freshwater fish, typically with barbels around the mouth. Carp are farmed for food in some parts of the world and are widely kept in large ponds.

Question 22

Crappie

Answer 22

a North American freshwater fish of the sunfish family, the male of which builds a nest and guards the eggs and young.

Question 23

Flathead Catfish

Answer 23

a large yellowish catfish of the central and Gulf states of the U.S. with the sides and back heavily mottled with brown or black.

Question 24

Lake Sturgeon

Answer 24

also called rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of sturgeon.

Question 25

Lake Trout

Answer 25

any of a number of fishes of the salmon family that live in large lakes and are highly prized as a game fish and as food.

Question 26

Largemouth Bass

Answer 26

a North American freshwater fish of the sunfish family. It is a popular sporting and food fish.

Question 27

Long mouth Gar

Answer 27

a primitive ray-finned fish of the gar family. It is also known as the needlenose gar.

Question 28

Muskellunge

Answer 28

a large pike that occurs only in the Great Lakes region.

Question 29

Northern Pike

Answer 29

a long-bodied predatory freshwater fish with a pointed snout and large teeth, of both North America and Eurasia.

Question 30

Rainbow Trout

Answer 30

a large trout native to the Pacific seaboard of North America. It has been widely introduced elsewhere, both as a farmed food fish and as a sporting fish. Most rainbow trout remain in streams, but some migrate to lakes and some to the sea

Question 31

Sauger

Answer 31

a slender North American pikeperch with silver eyes, which is active at twilight and at night.

Question 32

Sheephead

Answer 32

any of a number of boldly marked edible game fishes that live in warm American waters.

Question 33

Smallmouth Bass

Answer 33

Definition of smallmouth bass. : a black bass (Micropterus dolomieu) of clear rivers and lakes that is bronzy-green above and lighter below and has the vertex of the angle of the jaw falling below the eye

Question 34

Smelt

Answer 34

any of various small, silvery food fishes of the family Osmeridae, of cold northern waters, as the North American rainbow smelt

Question 35

Sunfish

Answer 35

a large deep-bodied marine fish of warm seas, with tall dorsal and anal fins near the rear of the body and a very short tail.

Question 36

Walleye

Answer 36

a North American pikeperch with large, opaque silvery eyes. It is a commercially valuable food fish and a popular sporting fish.

Question 37

White Sucker

Answer 37

is a 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.

Question 38

Yellow Bullhead

Answer 38

is a species of bullhead catfish that is a ray-finned fish that lacks scales.

Question 39

Yellow Perch

Answer 39

an edible freshwater fish with a high spiny dorsal fin, dark vertical bars on the body, and orange lower fins.