1. Welcome to Ecology of Fishes Laboratory Zoology 511

2. What is a Fish?
Poikilothermic – body temperature is identical to surrounding water
Chordates – have developmental characteristics of all vertebrates
Appendages developed as fins
Chief respiratory organs are gills
Body generally covered with scales
“A fish is an aquatic vertebrate with gills and with limbs in the shape of fins” (Nelson 1994)
There are over 25,000 fish species, so there are exceptions to these general characteristics.

3. Fish vs. Fishes “This tank is full of fish.”
“The ocean is full of fishes.”

4. Pomaxis annularis Black crappie…or… How fish are named
speckled perch, specks, papermouth, bachelor perch, calico bass, strawberry bass, or white perch.
White Perch,
Morone americana

5. Fish Ecology….?
Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how their distribution and abundance are affected by interactions between organisms and their environment (Krebs).

6. An extensive subject…
In my analysis, the spectrum ranges from ichthyology (evolution, taxonomy, structure and function, and biogeography of fishes); fish biology (metabolism, energetics, tolerances sensory process, behavior, reproduction, age/growth principles, demography, etc.); fish ecology (generally relating fish to their biotic environment at the individual, population, community and ecosystem levels); fish assessment (I say fish, instead of fishery, because we sometimes need to assess non exploited populations) that includes sampling methods tagging, analysis of sampled data (e.g. population size or structure); fishery resources (global and regional fisheries and their economic, sociological values (commercial and recreational), gears, markets, etc.; and finally fishery management (how to analyze fisheries (stock assessment, modeling, etc) and apply everything else to manage exploited or protected resources). PHEWWW!
An Excerpt from an of Dr. Randy Edwards

7. Some definitions of terms you’ll hear
Ichthyology: (Fish biology) is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish.
Fishery: A fishery (plural: fisheries) is an organized effort by humans to catch fish or other aquatic species, an activity known as fishing.
Fisheries Management: The effort to regulate where, when and how people fish, and how many fish they catch, to protect fish populations so that people can continue to fish.
Fisheries Science: Think of fisheries science as all the math behind fisheries management. That is, how do you make informed decisions on how to regulate people to protect fish populations?
All of these are incorporated into fish ecology and fish ecology plays an important role in all of the above!

8. Anatomical terminology of a fish…
Dorsal
Anterior
Lateral
Lateral
Posterior or caudal
Used for relating different parts….Eye is posterior to the mouth
Ventral
Conversely the mouth is anterior to the eye

9. Fins of a fish… Dorsal Caudal Pectoral Anal Pelvic Adipose Pelvic

10. Bowfin (Amia calva)
Bowfin (Amia calva)
Dorsal
Giant snakehead

12. Fins spines vs. rays
Black Crappie
Bluegill

13. Heterocercal Protocercal
Homocercal Diphycercal

14. Fish Scale Types Most bony fishes (Teleosts)
Overlapping = Flexibility!

15. Fish Scale Types Bowfin, paddlefish, gar, sturgeon Sharks and rays
Shark teeth and spiny tail on rays = modified placoids
Sharks and rays
“riblets” decrease drag. Nanotechnology

16. Scutes are a modification of scales

17. Mouth placement
superior
terminal
vs.
inferior

18. Premaxilla
Maxilla

19. Internal anatomy – the basics that help understand the ecology!
Stomach
Swim bladder
Liver
Heart
Intestine
Ovary
Fat deposits

21. Gills and Gill Rakers
Gill arch
Gill filaments
Gill rakers

22. Ecology influences anatomy

23. FISH WITH TEETH Muskie Walleye Northern Pike Chinook Salmon Burbot
Not all Teeth are pointy!
vomerine teeth
Longfinned Eel

25. Barbels: nothing is easier to identify!!
Yellow Bullhead
Brown Bullhead
Burbot
Burbot

26. Oddballs: Rostrum

27. Measure anatomy to do ecological studies

28. Enough lecture, lets look at some fish