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Wildlife Biology > Fishes > Flashcards

Fishes Flashcards

1
Q

How long ago did fishes first appear?

A

500 million years ago

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2
Q

List 5 characteristics that the Subphylum Vertebrata makes them different from other Chordates?

A
  • Vertebral Column/backbone
  • Spinal Chord
  • Skull
  • Bilateral Symmetry
  • Usually 2 pair of appendages
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3
Q

Fishes are in what Phylum?

A

Chordata

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4
Q

Vertebrates include which animals?

A
  • Fishes
  • Amphibians
  • reptiles
  • Birds
  • Mammals
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5
Q

What is the scientific study of fishes called?

A

Ichthyology

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6
Q

Why are fish important?

A
  • Ecosystem
  • Food
  • Economy
  • Recreation
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7
Q

How many species are in the Vertebrates?

A

40,000

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8
Q

The Class Agnatha is under which subphylum?

A

Vertebrata

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9
Q

Jawless Fishes are in what Class?

A

Agnatha

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10
Q

What do jawless fishes lack compared to other fishes?

A
  • Jaws
  • Paired fins
  • scales
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11
Q

What fishes are under the class Agnatha?

A
  • Lampreys
  • Hagfish
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12
Q

Where do Lampreys live?

A

Young lampreys live in freshwater. Adults live in the ocean

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13
Q

How do Lampreys feed?

A

They use their mouth as a suction cup on larger fish

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14
Q

Where do Hagfish live?

A

The ocean.

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15
Q

Hagfish, How do they feed and what do they feed on?

A

They are scavengers that feed on dead animals that fall to the sea floor

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16
Q

What do Hagfish use for defense?

A

Slime on their body

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17
Q

Hagfish skin is sometimes used for what?

A

Leather products

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18
Q

In the Class Chondrichthyes what kind of fish are in this group?

A

Sharks and Rays

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19
Q

What is the skeleton made of in the Chondrichthyes?

A

Cartilage

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20
Q

How is Cartilage different from bone?

A

Cartilage is soft, elastic and flexible. Bone is tough, inelastic and inflexible.

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21
Q

What is the benefit of having paired fins?

A
  • Steering
  • Stability
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22
Q

In Sharks, what does it mean to be fusiform?

A

pointy at the end, round in the middle

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23
Q

In Sharks, what does it mean to be countershaded?

A

Dark on the dorsal surface and light on the ventral surface

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24
Q

How many gills slits do sharks usually have?

A

5-7

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25
Q

What is a spiracle and what is it’s function?

A

To take in water and ventilate the gills

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26
Q

In a shark which fins are paired?

A

The pectoral and pelvic fins

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27
Q

What is the function of the pectoral fin?

A

For steering and lift

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28
Q

What is the function of the pelvic fins?

A

For stability

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29
Q

What is the function of the caudal fin?

A

propulsion through the water

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30
Q

Explain what it means for a caudal fin to be heterocercal?

A

The upper lobe is longer than the lower lobe

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31
Q

Why do some shark species need to keep swimming?

A

because their gills only work when water is flowing across their membranes

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32
Q

What will happen if shark stop swimming?

A

they die

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33
Q

How can some species of shark rest on the sea floor?

A

They have the ability to open and close their mouth to pump water and force it across their gills

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34
Q

What happens when a shark loses a tooth?

A

it is replaced

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35
Q

What is the largest species of shark?

A
  • Basking Shark
  • Whale Shark
36
Q

how does the basking shark and whale shark feed, and what does it feed on?

A
  • filter feeding
  • plankton
37
Q

Rays and Skates, Describe their body shape.

A
  • Bodies are flattened with pectoral fins
  • elongated tails
  • gill slits on their ventral surface
38
Q

Rays and Skates, where they generally live?

39
Q

What does demersal mean?

A

bottom dweller

40
Q

On rays and skates, where are the gill slits located?

A

On the ventral surface

41
Q

Rays and Skates, Describe their pectoral fins

A

Enlarged and attached to the sides of the body

42
Q

Describe why some rays are called stingrays.

A

some have a spine used for defense that stings

43
Q

How do rays feed and what do they feed on?

A
  • teeth are flatted for crushing mollusks and crustaceans
  • filter feeding for plankton
  • electric charge
44
Q

How are rays teeth different than those of a shark?

A

they’re flattened

45
Q

How are skates different than rays in terms of how they give birth?

A

Rays are viviparous while skates are egg laying oviparous

46
Q

Describe placoid scales

A

very teeth like

47
Q

What are placoid scales also called?

A

dermal denticles/ skin teeth

48
Q

What is the function of nares?

A

nostril openings for smells

49
Q

What are Ampullae of Lorenzini?

A

minute gel filled pores that detect weak electrical fields

50
Q

Ampullae of Lorenzini, what is their function?

A

used to sense the environment and find prey

51
Q

What is the lateral line and what is its function?

A

series of sensory organs that detect water pressure and vibrations

52
Q

Describe claspers and cloaca, and explain their function.

A
  • Claspers found on males.
  • Cloaca found on females.
  • Used for reproduction
53
Q

What is oviparous?

A

Lay the egg in the environment

54
Q

What is viviparous?

A

Live birth with placental(maternal) nourishment

55
Q

What is ovoviviparous?

A

Live birth but young live off a yolk sac. No placental nourishment.

56
Q

What Class are the Bony Fishes?

A

Osteichthyes

57
Q

Osteichthyes, What is their skeleton made of?

58
Q

What is a fin ray?

A

Supports the fin. Made of cartilage or spiny and made of bone

59
Q

What is the swim bladder and what does it allow bony fishes to do?

A
  • an internal organ
  • buoyancy
60
Q

What is the operculum?

A
  • A bony plate that covers the gills.
  • Opens to let water out
61
Q

Explain what it means for a caudal fin to be homocercal?

A

Equal lobes on top and bottom

62
Q

Describe the kind of scales found in bony fishes

A
  • Cycloid
  • Ctenoid
63
Q

How are bony fish scales different from the placoid scales of sharks?

A

bony fish scales are flat and smooth

64
Q

Describe the types of senses of bony fishes.

A
  • Good eyesight/color vision
  • Good sense of smell
  • touch and nerve receptors
  • some have barbels around their mouths
  • Lateral line systems
65
Q

What are barbels?

A

whiskers that help feel for their food

66
Q

What is the function of the lateral line (shakes have this too)?

A

to sense changes in water pressure, currents, vibrations and movements

67
Q

What is warning coloration?

A

brightly colored to warn predators that they are dangerous

68
Q

What is disruptive coloration?

A

bars or stripes that help to break up their outline

69
Q

what is cryptic coloration?

A

fancy name for camouflage

70
Q

What does it mean for a fish to be anadromous? Give an example.

A

they live in the ocean as adults but migrate to fresh water rivers for reproduction. Salmon.

71
Q

What is the typical life cycle of a salmon?

A
  • Breeding adults swim up a freshwater river
  • Find their breeding ground
  • female will lay eggs, male will fertilize
  • Eggs hatch
  • Young swim downstream to the ocean
72
Q

How do salmon benefit forest ecosystems?

A
  • Feeds bears, scavengers, insects and insect eaters
  • Decompose into nitrogen and add it to the soil or water
  • Adds Periphyton that feeds invertebrates
  • invertebrates feed young salmon
73
Q

What are ray-finned fish?

A

fins supported by fin rays

74
Q

What are lobe-finned fish?

A

fleshy lobes for fins with bone and muscle

75
Q

What is the evolutionary significance of the lobe-finned fishes?

A
  • they can walk on land, related to amphibians
  • their swim bladder can convert oxygen into their blood system.
76
Q

How many feet long is the Horn Shark?

77
Q

Which reproduction is the Horn Shark?

78
Q

How do you identify a horn shark?

A
  • prominent ridges over it’s eyes
  • spines on the base of the dorsal fin
79
Q

How long does a female Leopard Shark grow?

80
Q

How do you identify a Blue Shark?

A
  • pointed snout
  • long pectoral fins
81
Q

How long does a White Shark get?

A

12-15 feet

82
Q

What’s the difference between a Ray and a Shark?

A

A ray’s gills are on the ventral surface

83
Q

How long do the male Leopard Sharks grow?

84
Q

How long are Blue Shark?

85
Q

California Sheephead are sequential hermaphrodite, which means?

A

it is first one sex, then another

86
Q

What is mutual symbiosis?

A

larger
fish gets a cleaning and the Señorita gets a meal.

Wildlife Biology (31 decks)

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