MN fish vocab

Question 1

Vertebral Column

Answer 1

Allows movement and hence render the vertebral column flexible.

Question 2

Neural crest

Answer 2

Transient embryonic structure in vertebrates that gives rise to most of the peripheral nervous system.

Question 3

Fin

Answer 3

Part of a fish’s body that protrudes into the water and helps it balance and move in various directions.

Question 4

Scale

Answer 4

Thin horny or bony plates protecting the skin of fish.

Question 5

Operculum

Answer 5

A structure that closes or covers an aperture.

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.

Question 8

Nephron

Answer 8

Each of the functional units in the kidney, consisting of a glomerulus and its associated tubule.

Question 9

Lateral line

Answer 9

A visible line along the side of a fish consisting of a series of sense organs which detect pressure and vibration.

Question 10

Spawning

Answer 10

A release or deposit eggs.

Question 11

Swim bladder

Answer 11

A gas-filled sac present in the body of many bony fishes.

Question 12

Jawless fish

Answer 12

Primitive vertebrates without jaws.

Question 13

Cartilaginous fish

Answer 13

The skeleton wholly or largely composed of cartilage.

Question 14

Bony fish

Answer 14

A bony cartilaginous skeleton.

Question 15

Bowfin/Dogfish

Answer 15

The bowfin is a tubular, olive-green fish with a scaleless head and two barbels on its face. Its dorsal fin stretches most of the length of its back. Males have a black spot circled in green at base of their tail.

Question 16

Brown Bullhead

Answer 16

The Brown Bullhead is darker brown green dorsally growing lighter green and yellow towards the ventral surface, The brown bullhead has two dorsal fins, a single adipose fin, abdominal pelvic fins, and an anal fin with 21 to 24 rays.

Question 17

Brown Trout

Answer 17

Brown trout are generally olive green to brown and golden yellow on the sides and an off white along the belly. Most brown trout are covered with black spots along their sides, back, and dorsal fin.

Question 18

Burbot/Eelpout

Answer 18

It sports one barbel on its chin as well as a barbel-like, tubular extension near each nostril. Burbot inhabit deep, cold lakes in Minnesota.

Question 19

Channel Catfish

Answer 19

Olive to light blue in color with black speckles on the sides, has a forked tail, whisker-like organs around the mouth, a broad flat head, and a slender body.

Question 20

Common Carp

Answer 20

Large-bodied fish with a long dorsal fin that extends along most of its back and a forked tail fin. Carp typically grow 1 to 2 feet in length and weigh 1 to 8 pounds.

Question 21

Crappie

Answer 21

They are usually silvery-gray to green in color and show irregular or mottled black splotches over the entire body. Black crappies have rows of dark spots on their dorsal, anal, and caudal fins.

Question 22

Flathead Catfish

Answer 22

It has a squared, rather than forked, tail, with a long body and large flattened head.

Question 23

Lake Sturgeon

Answer 23

sleek shape and rows of bony plates on its sides, looks a bit like an armored torpedo. The Lake Sturgeon have greenish-grey coloring and a pointed snout with two pairs of whiskerlike tactile organs that dangle near its mouth..

Question 24

Lake Trout

Answer 24

They have a stocky head, large mouth, and are broad across the back, irregular shaped cream or pale-yellow spots cover their entire bodies from head to tail.

Question 25

Largemouth Bass

Answer 25

Olive-green to greenish gray fish, marked by a series of dark, sometimes black, blotches forming a jagged horizontal stripe along each flank.

Question 26

Long-nose Gar

Answer 26

A long, cylindrical body that varies in color from brown to dark olive, with a pale, silvery or whitish belly.

Question 27

Muskellunge

Answer 27

Elongated body and a flat head, with light colored with dark bars running down the sides of their body. Their underside is plain white in color.

Question 28

Northern Pike

Answer 28

Averages 18 to 20 inches in length and has a single dorsal fin, seven to nine rows of light-colored, bean-shaped spots run down the sides of its dark green, elongated body, its underside is white to cream colored.

Question 29

Rainbow Trout

Answer 29

They have silvery sides with a horizontal pinkish band that varies in intensity in different populations, the back is bluish to greenish with black spots on the back and sides.

Question 30

Sauger

Answer 30

They have mottled colored sides that gives them the camouflaged pattern, they have the ability to blend into their environment, especially the bottom structural patterns.

Question 31

Sheepshead

Answer 31

Oval-shaped, deep body with a blunt snout and small, nearly horizontal mouth, the caudal and pectoral fins are greenish while the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins are dusky or black.

Question 32

Small-mouth Bass

Answer 32

Mostly brown appearing sometimes as black or green with red eyes, and dark brown vertical bands, rather than a horizontal band along the side.

Question 33

Smelt

Answer 33

Little anadromous schooling fish, they look like bait

Question 34

Sunfish

Answer 34

A large, grey-blue, oval-bodied fish with prominent and powerful dorsal and anal fins, but no tail fin.

Question 35

Walleye

Answer 35

Olive to brown bodies with a yellowish underbelly, their most distinctive features are their huge, opaque eyes, long pointy teeth, and spiky dorsal fins.

Question 36

White Sucker

Answer 36

A long slender body with light brown colored sides and a white belly, they have a small sub-terminal mouth and smaller scales.

Question 37

Yellow Bullhead

Answer 37

Ray-finned fish that lack scales. The upper side of the body can be yellow to olive, brown, mottled gray, or black. The belly is usually a yellow color.

Question 38

Yellow Perch

Answer 38

An elongated, golden or greenish-yellow body with five to eight dark, vertical bands on its sides.