midterm exam review Flashcards
How is a fish defined?
An aquatic vertebrate with gills and fins.
Who produced the first organized system of taxonomic classification?
Carl Linnaeus
Who is known as the father of Icthyology?
Peter Artedi
Which Class of fishes has the smallest genome?
Class OsteichthyesBony fishes
What is the systematic classification of organisms based on relatedness?
Taxonomy
What is the study of relationships among species, families and/or higher taxa?
Phylogenetics or systematics
What is the diagrammatic arrangement of taxa based on relatedness called?
A cladogram
What are the three primary groups of fishes?
Jawless (class myxini and petromyzontida), cartilagenous (chondrichthes) and bony (osteichthyes) fishes
Which taxonomic Class of fishes contains the most species?
Class Osteicthyes (bony fishes)
Icthyologists attempt to identify shared derived traits that characterize groups containing all the descendants of an ancestral taxon called what?
synapomorphies
The extinct ancestors of the living groups of fishes were characterized by which two caudal fin types?
heterocercal and hypocercal
The first group of jawed fishes was Class ____?
Class Placodermi
Which Class of living fishes is characterized by the production of copius quantities of mucus from multiple slime glands along the body?
Class myxiniformes (the hagfishes)
Without jaws, what two primary feeding mode are exemplified by the jawless fishes?
Scavenging and parasitism
What primary characteristic is shared among all of Class Chondricthyes?
Cartilaginous endoskeleton
The Infraclass Elasmobranchii contains which groups of fishes
Sharks, skates and rays
Which taxonomic Order of Class Chondricthyes contains the majority of species?
Carcharhiniformes
Spiracles are a common morphological trait among Chondricthyans except for the Chimaeriforms, used for what physiological activity?
Respiration
The evolution of mouth position in Class Chondrichthyes has transitioned from terminal in the extinct ancestors to mostly _________ in the living members?
Inferior
To which taxonomic Order did the shark ‘actor’ from the movie ‘Jaws’ belong?
lamniformes
What is the primary shared physical characteristic shared among all Class Osteicthyes?
An ossified endoskeleton made of bone
What historical significance is associated with the primitive bony fish Order Coelacanthiformes (the Coelacanth)?
Thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago, before being rediscovered in 1938
The advanced Class Osteichthyes Order Elopiformes (tarpons,and ladyfishes) are characterized by what type of larval stage?
leptocephalus larvae
Which bony fish Order comprises the most freshwater species in the world?
Order Cypriniformes (the minnows, carps, suckers, loaches, and danios)
