Squatina squatina, known as the angelshark, is a species of shark in the familySquatinidae (known generally also as angel sharks), that were once widespread in the coastal waters of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Well-adapted for camouflaging itself on the sea floor, the angelshark has a flattened form with enlarged pectoral and pelvic fins, giving it a superficial resemblance to a ray. This species can be identified by its broad and stout body, conical barbels, thornless back (in larger individuals), and grayish or brownish dorsal coloration with a pattern of numerous small light and dark markings (that is more vivid in juveniles). It measures up to 2.4 m (7.9 ft) long.
Like other members of its family, the angelshark is a nocturnalambush predator that buries itself in sediment and waits for passing prey, mostly benthicbony fishes, but also skates and invertebrates. An aplacental viviparous species, females bear litters of seven to 25 pups every other year. The angelshark normally poses little danger to humans, though if provoked, it is quick to bite. Since the mid-20th century, intense commercial fishing across the angelshark's range has decimated its population via bycatch – it is now locally extinct or nearly so across most of its northern range, and the prospects of the remaining fragmented subpopulations are made more precarious by its slow rate of reproduction. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed this species as Critically Endangered. (Full article...)
The spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna) is a type of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, named for the spinning leaps it makes as a part of its feeding strategy. This species occurs in tropical and warm temperate waters worldwide, except for in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is found from coastal to offshore habitats to a depth of 100 m (330 ft), though it prefers shallow water. The spinner shark resembles a larger version of the blacktip shark (C. limbatus), with a slender body, long snout, and black-marked fins. This species can be distinguished from the blacktip shark by the first dorsal fin, which has a different shape and is placed further back, and by the black tip on the anal fin (in adults only). It attains a maximum length of 3 m (9.8 ft).
Spinner sharks are swift and gregarious predators that feed on a wide variety of small bony fishes and cephalopods. When feeding on schools of forage fish, they speed vertically through the school while spinning on their axis, erupting from the water at the end. Like other members of its family, the spinner shark is viviparous, with females bearing litters of three to 20 young every other year. The young are born in shallow nursery areas near the coast, and are relatively fast-growing. This species is not usually dangerous to humans, but may become belligerent when excited by food. Spinner sharks are valued by commercial fisheries across their range for their meat, fins, liver oil, and skin. They are also esteemed as strong fighters by recreational fishers. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed this species as Vulnerable worldwide. (Full article...)
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Specimen from Quilon, India
The quagga catshark (Halaelurus quagga) is a species of shark belonging to the familyPentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. A small, slim-bodied shark reaching 37 cm (15 in) in length, it has a distinctive color pattern of narrow, dark brown vertical bars, which resemble those of the quagga. Its head is short and flattened, with a pointed snout tip that is not upturned.
Little is known of the quagga catshark's natural history, as it is known only from nine specimens caught off southwestern India and eastern Somalia. Inhabiting the offshore waters of continental shelf at depths of 59–220 m (194–722 ft) or more, it is a bottom-dwellingpredator of shrimps. It exhibits an oviparous mode of reproduction, with a record of a female containing eight eggs that were enclosed in brown capsules bearing long tendrils at the corners. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presently lacks sufficient data to assess the conservation status of this species. It is not economically valued but is taken as bycatch. (Full article...)
This ray can be identified by its dark dorsal surface covered in white spots or rings. Near the base of the ray's relatively long tail, just behind the pelvic fins, are several venomous, barbed stingers. Spotted eagle rays commonly feed on small fish and crustaceans, and will sometimes dig with their snouts to look for food buried in the sand of the sea bed. These rays are commonly observed leaping out of the water, and on at least two occasions have been reported as having jumped into boats, in one incident resulting in the death of a woman in the Florida Keys. The spotted eagle ray is hunted by a wide variety of sharks. The rays are considered near threatened on the IUCN Red List. They are fished mainly in Southeast Asia and Africa, the most common market being in commercial trade and aquariums. They are protected in the Great Barrier Reef. (Full article...)
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The common thresher (Alopias vulpinus), also known as Atlantic thresher, is the largest species of thresher shark, family Alopiidae, reaching some 6 m (20 ft) in length. About half of its length consists of the elongated upper lobe of its caudal fin. With a streamlined body, short pointed snout, and modestly sized eyes, the common thresher resembles (and has often been confused with) the pelagic thresher (A. pelagicus). It can be distinguished from the latter species by the white of its belly extending in a band over the bases of its pectoral fins. The common thresher is distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate waters, though it prefers cooler temperatures. It can be found both close to shore and in the open ocean, from the surface to a depth of 550 m (1,800 ft). It is seasonally migratory and spends summers at lower latitudes.
The long tail of the common thresher, the source of many fanciful tales through history, is used in a whip-like fashion to deliver incapacitating blows to its prey. This species feeds mainly on small schoolingforage fishes such as herrings and anchovies. It is a fast, strong swimmer that has been known to leap clear of the water, and possesses physiological adaptations that allow it to maintain an internal body temperature warmer than that of the surrounding sea water. The common thresher has an aplacental viviparous mode of reproduction, with oophagousembryos that feed on undeveloped eggs ovulated by their mother. Females typically give birth to four pups at a time, following a gestation period of nine months. (Full article...)
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The Borneo shark (Carcharhinus borneensis) is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. Extremely rare, it is known only from inshore waters around Mukah in northwestern Borneo, though it may once have been more widely distributed. A small, gray shark reaching 65 cm (26 in) in length, this species is the only member of its genus with a row of enlarged pores above the corners of its mouth. It has a slender body with a long, pointed snout and a low second dorsal fin placed posterior to the anal fin origin.
Almost nothing is known about the natural history of the Borneo shark. It is viviparous like other requiem sharks; the females bear litters of six pups, which are provisioned through gestation by a placental connection. The International Union for Conservation of Nature last assessed this species as Critically Endangered. While an extant population has since been found, the Borneo shark continues to merit conservation concern given its highly limited range within heavily fished waters. (Full article...)
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Skeletal reconstruction of Ornithoprion, with known material represented in white and implied/suggested material represented in gray
Ornithoprion is an extinct genus of cartilaginous fish. The only species, O. hertwigi, lived during the Moscovian stage of the Pennsylvanian, which spanned from 315 to 307 million years ago. Its fossils are preserved in black shales from what is now the Midwestern United States. The study of Ornithoprion was performed primarily via x-ray imaging, and at the time of its discovery it represented one of the best known Paleozoicholocephalans. The classification of the genus has been the subject of debate due to its unique anatomy, but it is now placed in the order Eugeneodontiformes and the family Caseodontidae. Ornithoprion's genus name, which may be translated from Greek as 'bird saw', was inspired by the animal's vaguely bird-like skull and the saw-like appearance of the teeth in the lower jaw, while the species name honors German zoologist Oscar Hertwig.
Ornithoprion is unique among known eugeneodonts for the extremely long mandibularrostrum extending from the lower jaw, which was covered by a beak of fused bonyscales and which the function of in life is not known. It inhabited shallow, seasonalmarine and likely brackish water environments, alongside a variety of other cartilaginous fishes. The rounded shape of Ornithoprion's teeth suggests that it hunted hard-shelled invertebrates, and bite marks and damage to its fossils indicate it was fed on by other carnivores. Ornithoprion was small relative to other members of its order, with a cranium length of up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) and an estimated body length of up to approximately 91 centimetres (36 in). (Full article...)
Similar to modern sawfish, it would have had a long snout armed with modified fish scales shaped into "teeth", but the rostral denticles of Atlanticopristis had barbs on both sides. Atlanticopristis inhabited fresh to brackish water estuaries near large conifer forests, and lived in the same time and place as many species of bony fish, cartilaginous fish, and lobe finned fish, as well as some crocodilians, and several dinosaurs. Many of the taxa present in the Alcântara Formation are also known from the same-aged Kem Kem Beds in Morocco, due to the past connection of South America and Africa into the supercontinentGondwana. (Full article...)
Cutthroat trout usually inhabit and spawn in small to moderately large, clear, well-oxygenated, shallow rivers with gravel bottoms. They reproduce in clear, cold, moderately deep lakes. They are native to the alluvial or freestone streams that are typical tributaries of the rivers of the Pacific Basin, Great Basin and Rocky Mountains. Cutthroat trout spawn in the spring and may inadvertently but naturally hybridize with rainbow trout, producing fertile cutbows. Some populations of the coastal cutthroat trout (O. c. clarkii) are semi-anadromous. (Full article...)
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Skeletal reconstruction of R. orodontus, with well described material in white and preserved but poorly defined material in gray. The body outline as shown represents the extent of phosphatized skin.
Romerodus is an extinct genus of cartilaginous fish in the family Caseodontidae. It is known from the Carboniferous and possibly Permian periods of North America, and the only named species, R. orodontus, was discovered in organic shale deposits in the U.S. state of Nebraska. While it and the rest of its family were historically considered elasmobranchs related to sharks and rays, they are now regarded as holocephalans, a diverse subclass which is today only represented by chimaeras. It is one of few members of its order, the Eugeneodontiformes, that is known from multiple complete, well preserved body fossils, and is thus an important taxon for understanding the anatomy and ecology of less well preserved eugeneodonts. The genus name honors paleontologist Alfred Romer.
The body of R. orodontus was similar to that of other caseodontids. It possessed a slender, streamlined profile, a strongly keeled crescent-shaped caudal fin, and proportionally very small dorsal and pectoral fins. Unlike modern sharks and rays, there is no indication Romerodus possessed pelvic fins or claspers. Its teeth were smoother and less ornamented than those of other caseodonts, and were positioned in tightly packed rows. It inhabited deep-water marine environments, and like its relatives shows adaptations associated with life as a pelagiccarnivore. Unlike its larger relatives, however, the largest known Romerodus were approximately 50 cm (20 in) in total length. (Full article...)
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Two neighboring Eigenmannia perform the jamming avoidance response: When two fish with around the same frequency meet, one fish shifts its frequency upward and the other shifts its frequency downward.
The jamming avoidance response is a behavior of some species of weakly electric fish. It occurs when two electric fish with wave discharges meet – if their discharge frequencies are very similar, each fish shifts its discharge frequency to increase the difference between the two. By doing this, both fish prevent jamming of their sense of electroreception.
The giant freshwater stingray (Urogymnus polylepis, also widely known by the junior synonymHimantura chaophraya) is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae. It is found in large rivers and estuaries in Southeast Asia and Borneo, though historically it may have been more widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia. The widest freshwater fish and the largest stingray in the world, this species grows up to 2.2 m (7.2 ft) across and can exceed 300 kg (660 lb) in weight. It has a relatively thin, oval pectoral fin disc that is widest anteriorly, and a sharply pointed snout with a protruding tip. Its tail is thin and whip-like, and lacks fin folds. This species is uniformly grayish brown above and white below; the underside of the pectoral and pelvic fins bear distinctive wide, dark bands on their posterior margins.
The Fishmonger's Shop, Bartolomeo Passerotti, 1580s People interact with fish in multiple ways, whether practically, in folklore and religion, or in art. They have economic importance in the fishing industry and fish farming; these industries provide some people with an income, and the general population with fish as food. Other practical uses of fish include recreational fishing and their use in biological research. Fish play symbolic roles in religion, mythology, folklore, and fairy tale, where stories about fish have been told in cultures around the world for thousands of years. Fish have similarly been depicted in art, literature, film, and music in many cultures. Academic study of fish in culture is called ethnoichthyology. Both academically and in practice, all these aspects of fish in people's lives are interrelated. (Full article...)
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The blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. Genetic analyses have revealed substantial variation within this species, with populations from the western Atlantic Ocean isolated and distinct from those in the rest of its range. The blacktip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins. Most individuals have black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins. It usually attains a length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).
Swift, energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish. Their demeanor has been described as "timid" compared to other large requiem sharks. Both juveniles and adults form groups of varying size. Like other members of its family, the blacktip shark is viviparous; females bear one to 10 pups every other year. Young blacktip sharks spend the first months of their lives in shallow nurseries, and grown females return to the nurseries where they were born to give birth themselves. In the absence of males, females are also capable of asexual reproduction. (Full article...)
Unearthed in Arctic Canada, Tiktaalik is a non-tetrapod member of Osteichthyes (bony fish), complete with scales and gills—but it has a triangular, flattened head and unusual, cleaver-shaped fins. Its fins have thin ray bones for paddling like most fish, but they also have sturdy interior bones that would have allowed Tiktaalik to prop itself up in shallow water and use its limbs for support as most four-legged animals do. Those fins and other mixed characteristics mark Tiktaalik as a crucial transition fossil, a link in evolution from swimming fish to four-legged vertebrates. This and similar animals might be the common ancestors of all vertebrate terrestrial fauna: amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. (Full article...)
... that when Nestor Binabo's wife was freed by her kidnappers, she was given a bag of fish and told to make her husband peppersoup?
... that you should "hang a gone fishin' notice on your office door" before reading Geometry of Quantum States?
... that while filming a music video for her debut album at a motel, Underscores had the police called on her by the motel staff because they thought she was shooting a pornographic film?
... that some of the interior decoration of the Ernst-Haeckel-Haus is inspired by jellyfish?
Image 2Most mesopelagic fishes are small filter feeders that ascend at night to feed in the nutrient rich waters of the epipelagic zone. During the day, they return to the dark, cold, oxygen-deficient waters of the mesopelagic where they are relatively safe from predators. Lanternfish account for as much as 65% of all deep sea fish biomass and are largely responsible for the deep scattering layer of the world's oceans. (from Pelagic fish)
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The global continental shelf, highlighted in light blue
Image 9The giant whale shark, another resident of the ocean epipelagic zone, filter feeds on plankton, and periodically dives deep into the mesopelagic zone. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 10Young, red flabby whalefish make nightly vertical migrations into the lower mesopelagic zone to feed on copepods. When males mature into adults, they develop a massive liver and then their jaws fuse shut. They no longer eat, but continue to metabolise the energy stored in their liver. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 14Many bristlemouth species, such as the "spark anglemouth" above, are also bathypelagic ambush predators that can swallow prey larger than themselves. They are among the most abundant of all vertebrate families. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 15Areas of upwelling in red (from Pelagic fish)
Image 16Red snapper, are generalized reef feeders with standard jaw and mouth structures that allow them to eat almost anything, though they prefer small fish and crustaceans. (from Coral reef fish)
Image 21The daggertooth paralyses other mesopelagic fish when it bites them with its dagger-like teeth (from Deep-sea fish)
Image 22The stoplight loosejaw has a lower jaw one-quarter as long as its body. The jaw has no floor and is attached only by a hinge and a modified tongue bone. Large fang-like teeth in the front are followed by many small barbed teeth. (from Deep-sea fish)
Image 25The stoplight loosejaw is also one of the few fishes that produce red bioluminescence. As most of their prey cannot perceive red light, this allows it to hunt with an essentially invisible beam of light. (from Deep-sea fish)
Image 26The stargazer is an ambush predator which can deliver both venom and electric shocks. It has been called "the meanest thing in creation". (from Coastal fish)
Image 27The huge ocean sunfish, a true resident of the ocean epipelagic zone, sometimes drifts with the current, eating jellyfish. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 28Pacific decadal anomalies – April 2008 (from Pelagic fish)
Image 29Lanternfish are partial residents of the ocean epipelagic zone During the day they hide in deep waters, but at night they migrate up to surface waters to feed. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 31Profile illustrating the shelf, slope and rise (from Demersal fish)
Image 32Coral reefs support flourishing ecosystems, paradoxically in clear, low nutrient waters, along tropical continental coasts and around volcanic islands. Coral reef fish are numerous and diverse. (from Coastal fish)
Image 33Surgeonfish are among the most common of coral reef herbivores, often feeding in shoals. This may be a mechanism for overwhelming the highly aggressive defence responses of small territorial damselfishes that vigorously guard small patches of algae on coral reefs. (from Coral reef fish)
Image 43The humpback anglerfish is a bathypelagic ambush predator, which attracts prey with a bioluminescent lure. It can ingest prey larger than itself, which it swallows with an inrush of water when it opens its mouth. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 54Some flatfish can camouflage themselves on the ocean floor (from Demersal fish)
Image 55Bigeye tuna cruise the epipelagic zone at night and the mesopelagic zone during the day (from Deep-sea fish)
Image 56Humans seldom encounter frilled sharks alive, so they pose little danger (though scientists have accidentally cut themselves examining their teeth). (from Deep-sea fish)
Image 58Cod-like fishes, like this morid cod have a barbel (fleshy filament) on their lower jaw which they use to detect prey buried in the sand or mud. (from Coastal fish)
Image 60Most of the rest of the mesopelagic fishes are ambush predators, such as this sabertooth fish. The sabertooth uses its telescopic, upward-pointing eyes to pick out prey silhouetted against the gloom above. Their recurved teeth prevent a captured fish from backing out. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 61The usually placid yellow tang can erect spines in its tail and slash at its opponent with rapid sideways movements. (from Coral reef fish)
Image 62Oceanic fish inhabit the oceanic zone, which is the deep open water which lies beyond the continental shelves. (from Pelagic fish)
Image 68Long-snouted lancetfish. Lancetfish are ambush predators which spend all their time in the mesopelagic zone. They are among the largest mesopelagic fishes (up to 2 m (6.6 ft). (from Deep-sea fish)
Image 76Scale diagram of the layers of the pelagic zone (from Pelagic fish)
Image 77In the foreground is an orange-lined triggerfish displaying spines. Triggerfish have mouths that crush shells. Orange-lined triggerfish are particularly aggressive. The black and white fish are three-stripe damselfish and the unstriped fish are blue-green chromis damselfish. If the triggerfish attacks, the damselfish will hide in the nearby cauliflower coral. If the triggerfish wants to hide, it will squeeze into a coral crevice and lock itself in place with its spines. (from Coral reef fish)
Image 80Shortfin mako shark make long seasonal migrations. They appear to follow temperature gradients, and have been recorded travelling more than 4,500 km in one year. (from Pelagic fish)
In American English, the name gar (or garpike) is strictly applied to members of the Lepisosteidae, a family including seven living species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine, waters of eastern North America, Central America, and the Caribbean islands.
The round ribbontail ray (Taeniura meyeni) is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, found throughout the nearshore waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific region. Reaching 1.8 m (6 ft) across, this large ray is characterized by a thick, rounded pectoral fin disc covered by small tubercles on top, and a relatively short tail bearing a single venomous spine. The ray is well-camouflaged when lying on the seabed; it is largely nocturnal, and preys on molluscs, crustaceans and bony fish. Mature females bear litters of up to seven pups, which are fed during gestation on "uterine milk", a product secreted by the walls of the oviduct. This round ribbontail ray was photographed in Lakshadweep, India.
The orbicular batfish (Platax orbicularis) is a batfish endemic to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It has a thin, disc-shaped body, and male can grow up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in length. In the wild, the orbicular batfish lives in brackish or marine waters, usually around reefs, at depths from 5 to 30 metres (20 to 100 ft). It is also a popular aquarium fish, although captive specimens generally do not grow as long as wild ones.
Bryaninops yongei is a benthic species of goby widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean; it is commonly found living in and around coral. Although this species was discovered in 1906, its ability to propel itself quickly to escape predators makes it difficult to study.
An Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) egg hatching. The Alevin (larva) has grown around the remains of the yolk sac - visible are the arteries spinning around the yolk and little oildrops, also the gut, the spine, the main caudalblood vessel, the bladder and the arcs of the gills. In about 24 hours it will be a fry without yolk sac.
The Atlantic spadefish is a species of marine fish endemic to the shallow waters off the coast of the southeastern United States and in the Caribbean Sea. They are similar in appearance to fresh waterangelfish, but much larger, reaching up to three feet (0.9 m) in length. Due to their reputation as strong fighters, they are popular game fish, especially during the summer months when they are most active.
Mudskippers, such as this Periophthalmodon septemradiatus, are uniquely adapted to a completely amphibious lifestyle. They are active when out of water, feeding and interacting with one another, as well as defending their territories.
People jigging—fishing with a type of lure known as a "jig"—for squid in Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. A jig consists of a lead sinker with a hook molded into it and usually covered by a soft body to attract fish. Jigs are intended to create a jerky, vertical motion, as opposed to spinnerbaits which move through the water horizontally.
The flying gurnard is a fish of tropical to warm temperate waters on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. When excited, it spreads its "wings", semi-transparent appendages tipped with a phosphorescent bright blue coloration which are used to frighten predators.
The Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus) is a species of fish from the cichlidfamily. In South America, where the species occurs, they are often found for sale as a food fish in the local markets. The species is also a popular aquarium fish. They have been reported to grow to a length of 45 cm (ca. 18 in) and a mass of 1.6 kg (3.5 lb).
The Peacock flounder (Bothus mancus) is a species of lefteye flounder found widely in relatively shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific. This photomontage shows four separate views of the same fish, each several minutes apart, starting from the top left. Over the course of the photos, the fish changes its colors to match its new surroundings, and then finally (bottom right) buries itself in the sand, leaving only the eyes protruding.
Koi are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carpCyprinus carpio, originated from China and widely spread in Japan. They are very closely related to goldfish. The word "koi" comes from Japanese meaning "carp".
The spotted trunkfish (Lactophrys bicaudalis) is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Ostraciidae, native to the Caribbean Sea and parts of the western Atlantic Ocean. Members of this family are known as boxfishes because they have a hard outer covering consisting of hexagonal, plate-like scales fused together into a solid, triangular or box-like carapace. Because of this casing, the body of the spotted trunkfish is not flexible, and locomotion is normally limited to slow movements performed by rippling its dorsal and anal fins and gently beating its pectoral fins. If faster motion is required, it can additionally use its caudal fin for propulsion. This spotted trunkfish was photographed at a depth of about 40 ft (12 m) at Bari Reef, Bonaire.
The Mini Edition of the Fish Portal is available for you to use on your wikipedia user page or talk page. It uses minimum space but retains many crucial features of the portal. To use it, place {{Portal:Fish/Mini portal}} on the designated page. See here for an example of the mini portal on a user page.
The Fish Quiz is a friendly quiz competition designed to test your general knowledge of fish. The current game is Fish Quiz Tournament X. You can read more and join the game here.
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