Aquatic Resources and Ecology

Chapter 1. Aquatic Resources (Freshwater and Marine)

Section 1. Definitions and Classifications

Section 2. Prokaryotes
Unit 1. Bacteria
Unit 2. Archaea

Section 3. Eukaryotes
Unit 1. Protista
Unit 2. Fungi
Unit 3.Plantae

Section 4. Invertebrates
Unit 1 Porifera
Unit 2 Cnidaria
Unit 3 Ctenophora
Unit 4 Bilaterally symmetrical worms
Unit 5 Mollusca
Unit 6 Arthropoda
Unit 7 Echiinodermata
Unit 8 Rotifera

Section 5. Vertebrates – fishes

Unit 1. Taxonomy of Vertebrate Fishes
Unit 2. External Anatomy of Fishes
Unit 3. Skeletal, Integumentary and muscular systems in fishes
Unit 4. Digestive system and nutrition in fishes
Unit 5. Respiration in fishes
Unit 6. Blood and its circulation
Unit 7. Excretion and Osmoregulation
Unit 8. Buoyancy and Thermal Regulation
Unit 9. Integration in Fishes
Unit 10. Reproduction in Fishes

Section 6. Vertebrates (phylum Chordata) – Marine Reptiles, Birds and Mammals

Chapter 2. Ecology 66

Section 1 Definitions and basic principles 66

Unit 1 Species interaction
Unit 2. Flow of Energy and Materials
Unit 3. Freshwater Ecosystems
Unit 4. Major Marine Lifestyles and Environments

Chapter 3 Aquatic ecosystems 110

Section 1 Definitions 110
Section 2 Ecological successions and adaptation 110
Section 3. Population Dynamics and Biodiversity of Ecosystems 111
Unit 1 Factors affecting population
Unit 2. Population growth
Unit 3. Biodiversity
Section 4. Philippine ecosystems 115
Unit 1 Coral reefs
Unit 2 Seagrass beds
Unit 3 Mangrove forests

Chapter 4. Resources from the sea 129

Section 1. Living and non-living resources from the sea 129
Section 2. Impact of humans on the marine environment 129
Section 3. Resource valuation 131
Appendix. Taxonomy of Aquatic Resources 133

CHAPTER 1. AQUATIC RESOURCES (Freshwater and Marine)

Section 1. Definitions and Classifications

 Aquatic Resources – includes fish, all other aquatic flora and fauna and other living resources of the aquatic environment, including but not
limited to salt and corals (R.A. 8550).
 Aquatic Resources - refers to water and its multiple roles as a natural resource and in supporting all human, animal and plant life.
 Aquatic resources are a common property resources – defined as a natural resource in which a group of people has common user rights (not
necessarily ownership rights). It is common for the resources of lakes, rivers, estuaries and marine areas to be considered as CPRs.

Classification of marine organisms:

1. Plankton - are free-floating organisms inhabiting the neritic and epipelagic regions of the ocean. They have limited power of movement and are
thus dependent on water movement for transport. There are two kinds of plankton: phytoplankton (plant) and zooplankton (animal).
a. Phytoplankton are abundant in the photic zone where nutrients are supplied by water turbulence and by the vertical movement of water
masses. Light and nutrients are the necessary ingredients phytoplankton need to produce food through photosynthesis.
b. Zooplankton are the primary consumers of the phytoplankton with which they co-occur. There are two kinds of zooplankton: holoplankton
(Organisms that spend their entire life as plankton) and meroplankton (organisms that spend only a part of their lives as plankton).
2. Nekton - aside from being larger than plankton, also powerful swimmers, and are able to go either against the water movement or maintain their
position in the presence of currents. Included in this classification are the sharks, rays, turtles, sea snakes, sea lions, dolphins and penguins.
3. Benthos - organisms attached to, resting on, or living under the sediments, of the ocean floor. Included in this type are shellfish, sea urchins, etc.

The Organisms of the Sea

Binomial nomenclature – two name system of genus and species.
Species – population of organisms that share common characteristics that can breed with each other and are reproductively isolated with other
populations. Successful breeding means that the offspring produced are fertile and can themselves propagate the species.
Genus – group of very similar species

Two classifications of organisms based on complexity of cell:

1. Prokaryotes – difference from eukaryotes: lack a nucleus and most other membrane-bound organelles, circular shape of the DNA molecules that
encode their genetic information, the size of their ribosomes. Two domains:
a. Bacteria
b. Archaea
2. Eukaryotes
Classification of organisms in the water
Seston - heterogeneous mixture of living and non-living bodies that float or swim in water:
1. Abioseston (non-living)
a. Autochtonus detritus (locally produced sediments from body of water)
b. Allocthonus detritus (introduced sediments)
2. Bioseston (living)
a. On the basis of habitat
1) Littoral – near the shore
2) Limnetic – pelagic – thriving in open water
3) Benthos – bottom organisms
b. On the basis of locomotion
1) Plankton – heterogeneous assemblage of minute organisms and finely divided non-living materials that occur in the water
column, that float and drift at the mercy of waves and other water movements, has limited power of locomotion. Can be
classified:
a. On the basis of quality
 Phytoplankton - plant plankton
 Phytoplankton proper – chlorophyll bearing phytoplankton
 Saproplankton – bacteria and fungi
 Bacterioplankton – bacteria
 Zooplankton – animal plankton
b. On the basis of size

c. On the basis of distribution

 Limnoplankton – lakes
 Rheoplankton (Potamplankton) – running-water plankton
 Heleoplankton – pond plankton
 Haliplankton – saltwater plankton
 Hypalmyroplankton – brackishwater plankton
d. On the basis of origin
 Autogenetic – locally produced plankton
 Allogenetic – plankton introduced from other localities
e. On the basis of content
 Euplankton – true plankton
 Pseudoplankton – debris mingled with plankton
f. On the basis of life history
 Holoplankton – organisms free-floating throughout their life
 Meroplankton – organized free-floating at some stage in their life cycle.
g. On the basis of distribution in a body of water
 Horizontal distribution. It lacks uniformity, and is affected by wind action, on flowing streams, irregularity of shoreline, depth of
water, general flowage areas, currents, action of predators.
 Vertical distribution. It changes with depth and is influenced by light, food, dissolved gases, temperature, wind, turbulence,
and gravity.
Plankton possess no powers of locomotion. They inhabit the water column. They are producers and consumers of organic matter. They
remain suspended or floating in the water. Floating mechanisms consist of the presence of external and internal air stores, fats, and oil
 globules and mucilaginous sheath secretions also by increasing the specific area surface. Specific surface area increases if the shape
of the body departs from spherical and when surface is provided with horns, ridges, spines, setae, and the like. Plankton has the ability
to concentrate adaptively to change in viscosity which affect inversely sinking rate; by changing its form a phenomenon called
cyclomorphosis (changes in head measurements), e.g. Daphnia.

A plankton net is towed in the water column along the vertical and horizontal path in the areas along the lake or any body of inland
water. For quantitative study, the length of drag is recorded in order to know the actual volume of water that passed through the net. Or
for a known water column, the water sample is preserved and let stand to settle the plankton. The supernatant liquid is thrown out
carefully and plankton that settled is taken. Settling can be made faster by means of a centrifuge. The plankton are sorted and counted
either with the naked eye for macroplankton or with the aid of the microscope for nannoplankton and microplankton. A quantitative
measure is the total amount of plankton present in terms of standing crop.

Annual standing crop is the total amount of plankton in a year. This estimate however, requires knowledge on the rate of reproduction
of each kind under environmental conditions and life span of each kind and average weight.

2) Nekton - is used to designate those organisms which swim freely in water and possess an efficiency of locomotion which enable them
to be more or less independent of the drifting effects of water movements. The fishes, shrimps, and temporary inhabitants of water such
as reptiles (Snakes), turtles, frogs, aquatic birds, gulls, duck are examples of nekton.

Nektons have some adaptations for swimming such as: Body streamline form for rapid locomotion, Fins for locomotion, Rounder
contours of the body and elimination of irregularities of all sorts.

Certain fishes select surfaces, or at time deeper, cooler waters. Such distribution depends upon the season, the physiological state of
the fish, and stage and life history. Their distribution is affected by:
The Nekton seldom if ever manifests uniform distribution, this is caused by the following factors:
1. Formation of local aggregations.
2. Seasonal Migration
3. Diurnal movements
4. Distribution of foods.
5. Reproductive Cycles
6. Presence or Absence of shelter
7. Movements of water
8. Oxygen distribution
9. Temperature condition

3) Neuston - refers to the community of the surface film and uses the surface tension for stabilizing their position.
Types:
1. Supra-Neuston or Epineuston. These organisms are related to the upper surface film. Examples are water striders (Gerridae,
Vellidae), water measurers (Hydrometridae), hebrids (Hebridae), whirling beetles (Hyrinidae) and certain spiders – those that live
upon the upper surface.
2. Infra-Neuston or Hyponeuston. These are organisms related to the lower surface and those that live beneath the surface film.
These are the bacteria, protozoa, algae, hydra, certain Entromostraca, certain insect larvae and others. Hyponeuston are usually
submerged.

Adaptations stay on the surface film: To stay on the surface film, neuston possess hydrofuge surface which make contact with water
allowing them to run about over the surface film. The epineuston are essentially aerial organisms which by means of a floatation disc
(e.g., heterokont Botrydiopsis arhiza and chlorophycean Nautococcus) or by means of a stalk (as in Chromatophyton rosaoffii) rest on
the surface film.

The organisms are affected by effects of evaporation and predation (since they are exposed).

4) Benthos - includes all bottom dwelling organisms, It consists of diversified arrays of plants and animals. It includes the organisms of the
bottom from the uppermost bearing portion of the beach to the greatest depth. Macrofauna and microfauna are present. They include
Bacteria, snail, larvae of insects, bivalves, crabs, etc.

The benthos are distributed in the life zones of benthic region; the littoral and profundal. With increasing depth beyond the littoral, the
number of organisms diminishes often rapidly. There is no constancy of composition.

The factors affecting the distribution of benthic organisms are:

1. Type of bottom materials
2. Presence of food
3. Temperature and Seasonal effects
 4. Oxygen distribution
5. Presence or absence of shelter
6. Reproductive cycles
7. Presence of nests

The characteristics of the bottom organisms are the following:

1. Body form flattened, compressed laterally or dorsoventrally.
2. Sessile or relatively inactive animals which exhibited distinct zonation.
3. Eyes tend to be large or big.

5) Periphyton - community includes the assemblage of organisms that grow upon free surfaces of objects submerged in water. These
organisms are usually sessile and attached on a substrate. Includes Protozoans, bryozoans, rotifers, worms, annelid worms, and
insects compose the periphyton community. A mass of periphyton is likely to contain plankton and benthos, however, the plankton are
caught and held in the tangle of attached forms.

The aufwuchs is a German term which includes both attached and free-living plants and animals. The community of the aufwuchs
includes all organisms that are attached to or moved upon submerged substrate but do not penetrate it.

They are classified according to the types of substrates that they live upon. Aufwuchs colonization is particularly dependent upon the
characteristics of the substrate. In Lakes, the terms are as follows:
1. Lithophile. These are organisms attached on stones and other solid
2. Phytophile. These are organisms attached on the water plants.
3. Argillophile. These are organisms attached on clay deposits.
4. Psammophile. These are organisms attached on sand deposits.
5. Pelophile. These are organisms attached on soft muddy substrates.

In Rivers, the terms previously mentioned are modified as follows:

6. Lithorheophile. These are organisms attached on stone and hard objects.
7. Phytorheophile. These are organisms attached on water plants.
8. Argillorheophile. These are organism attached on clay deposits.
9. Psammorheophile. These are organisms in sand deposits lying within current region.
10. Pelorheophile. These are organisms attached on muddy deposits lying within the current region.

The letters rheo are placed before phile to indicate running waters (rheo or current).

The factors affecting periphyton are :

1. Water movement (usually reduced where wave action is severe).
2. Fluctuation in water level.
3. Chemical characteristics of the environment.

6) Macrophytes - larger aquatic plants that are restricted to the general vicinity of the shores and to shallow water areas. These plants
vary greatly in the degree to which they become truly aquatic. They present graduations from those which are amphibious, living at the
edge of the water in very moist or water saturated soil to those completely submerged.

The larger aquatic plants are divided into several ecological groups, namely:
Macrophytic Algae. These include those species attached to the bottom and extend upward through the water, e.g., Chara, Nitella, and
species which form mats either on the bottom or surface or on some occasion fill the entire water column, e.g., Pithophora, Spirogyra,
Rhizoclonium.
Vascular Plants. These include those species that either submerged, floating leafed, floating or emergent:
1. Emergent. Those rooted at the bottom and projecting out of the water for part of their length, grow in shallow waters e.g., certain
common species of bulrush, Scirpus.
2. Floating. Those which wholly or in part float on the surface of the water and often do not project above it, examples are the water
lilies, and those wholly floating and unattached such as Lemna.
3. Submerged. Those continuously covered by the water and not in contact with the atmosphere, such as eel grasses, Vallisneria
and others.

A distinct feature is the tendency of macrophytes to be arranged in more or less parallel zones along the margins of lakes, ponds and
similar bodies:
1. Marginal. Plants in the beach shore of lake whose roots are enclosed to the ground.
2. Zone of Emergent Hydrophytes. Zone of those plants rooted in the bottom, submerged at their basal portions and elevated into the
air at the tops. It constitutes the shoreward zone extending from the near edge of the water lakeward to depth of roughly about 2
meters. Examples: Scirpus (bulrushes), Typha (cat-tails), Phragmites (reeds).
 3. Zone of Floating Hydrophytes. This occurs typically next beyond lakeward the emergent zone, and is composed of plants rooted to
the bottom but their foliage float upon the surface of the water. Examples are water lilies (Nuphar, Nelumbo, Nymphaea), water
smartweed (Polygonum amphibium), some pond weeds. Depth vary from 10 cm to 2.5 m.
4. Zone of Submerged Hydrophyes. This zone occupies the deeper water beyond the zone of floating plants extending downward to
depths which vary with conditions but in average waters do not exceed 6 m.

Higher aquatic plants serve as :

1. Breeding Place. Some insects deposit their eggs on leaves, etc. Larvae develop on leaves, petioles, stem, roots, stalks.
2. Mechanical Support of animals such as hydra, sponges, larval cases.
3. Food of animals. Fish eat macrophytes.
4. Utilize inorganic substances, hence prevent the build-up of CO2, NO3, NH3, etc.
5. Shelter or refuge.
6. Producers of Oxygen
7. Reduces effects of wave action by acting as breakers.

Macrophytes may be responsible for a variety of ecological problems such as follows:

1. They compete with phytoplankton for nutrients and light. The amount of coverage by macrophytes that will affect pond fish
production is 10-20%.
2. Provide cover such that too many fish escape predation and causes an imbalance of fish population.
3. Interfere with seining/catching of fish.
4. Cause dissolved oxygen deficiencies by covering the entire pond surface and limiting light penetration.
5. Fill the water column, and crowd the area for fish.

To avoid growth of macrophytes, ponds with extensive areas of shallows should be deepened, Mechanical removal, or use of algicides
will cause their elimination.

7) Saprophytes – organisms responsible for mineralizing nutrients from dead organic materials. Include bacteria and fungi. They are
present in the water and in the soil. These saprophytes bring about the decomposition of dead organic material and renders the
nutrients present in them available. Bacteria also serve as food for Protists and fishes.

Bacteria can be classified as follows:

1. Based on Oxygen requirement.
a) Aerobic bacteria. Those which require the presence of oxygen
b) Anaerobic bacteria. Those which can exist in the absence of free oxygen.
2. Based on their relations to inorganic and non-living organic matters
a) Autotrophic Bacteria. Bacteria which secure their nutrition entirely from inorganic and therefore independent of all other
organisms.
 Chemosynthetic Autotrophic Bacteria. Bacteria such as true iron bacteria and white sulfur bacteria which obtain their
necessary energy by the oxidation of certain inorganic compounds, but without the use of sunlight, and utilize only
inorganic materials – certain salts, CO2, and water for building materials.
 Photosynthetic Autotrophic Bacteria. Bacteria such as green, and purple sulfur bacteria which obtain energy from
sunlight, and require only inorganic substances for building materials.
b) Heterotophic Bacteria. Bacteria requiring organic matter for at least a part of their nutrition.
 Saprophytic bacteria. Bacteria which digest and absorb dead organic matter.
 Parasitic. Truly parasitic within the bodies of organisms.

⮚ The fungi include the yeasts, molds and other filamentous organisms, Actinomycetes and Basidiomycetes
⮚ The factors affecting distribution of bacteria are as follows:
1. Light. Strong sunlight is lethal due to ultraviolet ray.
2. Temperature. It has direct effect. High temperature facilitates growth and multiplication of bacteria.
3. Sedimentation. Organic particles are used as attachment of bacteria, any change on these will affect their distribution.
4. Movements of water. It has direct effect on distribution.
5. Food supply. Sensitive to food supply.
6. Other microorganisms. Some organisms like protozoa eat bacteria, hence, affect their distribution.

8) Organic matter and bottom deposits. This refer to the nature of substrate.
pH. High pH favors the growth of bacteria.

Section 2. Prokaryotes

Unit 1. Bacteria
1. Heterotrophic bacteria – most are decomposers which break down waste products and dead organic matter.
 a. Respiration in aerobic bacteria and archaea uses oxygen, as in most other groups of organisms.
b. In anaerobic species respiration does not require oxygen.
c. Anaerobic bacteria do not grow when oxygen is present and thrive when it is absent, as in sediments that are devoid of oxygen, or anoxic.
2. Autotrophic bacteria – make their own organic compounds. Some are:
a. Photosynthetic – contain chlorophyll and derive energy from organic compounds manufactured by the use of light energy
b. Chemosynthetic or Chemoautotrophic – derive energy stored in chemical compounds such as hydrogen sulphide, other sulphur or iron
compounds, methane
3. Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae – photosynthetic (chlorophyll + phycocyanin – bluish pigment). Most marine cyanobacteria also have a
reddish pigment, phycoerythrin:
a. Fossil stromatolites, massive calcareous mounds formed by cyanobacteria, are known to date back some 3 billion years.
b. Prochlorococcus, a minute cyanobacterium, is thought to be the most abundant photosynthetic organism in the ocean.
c. Many planktonic cyanobacteria (such as Trichodesmium) carry out nitrogen fixation, converting gaseous nitrogen (N 2) into ammonium
(NH4+), which, like nitrate (NO3) and other nitrogen compounds into which most of the ammonium is transformed, can be used as a nitrogen
source by primary producers
d. May be:
1) Endolithic - burrow into calcareous rocks and coral skeletons
2) Epiphytes - live on surface of algae or plants
3) Endophytes - live inside algae

Unit 2. Archaea
“Extremophiles,” meaning “lovers of extremes.” They are found in extreme marine environments, such as in very deep water, where they survive at
pressures of 300 to 800 atmospheres. Some archaea live at the high temperatures of hydrothermal vents.

Some archaea are also known to live symbiotically in sponges, sea cucumbers, and fishes

Section 3. Eukaryotes

Unit 1. Protista
1. Unicellular Algae – Plant-like protists: Algae (singular, alga) are a very diverse group of simple, mostly aquatic (that is, marine and freshwater),
mostly photosynthetic organisms. Being eukaryotic, their cells contain a nucleus and other organelles enclosed by membranes
a. Diatoms (division, or phylum, Bacillariophyta) are unicellular, have cells enclosed by cell walls made largely of silica (SiO 2), a glass-like
material. This glassy shell, or frustule, consists of two tightly fitting halves. The frustule allows light to pass through, so that the conspicuous
golden brown chloroplasts (due to carotenoid pigments) can capture light energy for photosynthesis. The minute perforations allow
dissolved gases and nutrients to enter and exit.
Diatoms reproduce mostly by cell division, a type of asexual reproduction. The overlapping halves of the frustule separate, and each secretes
a new, smaller half.
The smaller, lower frustule of the parent cell becomes the larger frustule of a daughter cell, which then secretes a new, smaller frustule.
Some are produced by sexual reproduction through auxospores.

The glassy frustule of dead diatoms settle on the bottom and form thick deposits of siliceous material (diatomaceous earth) that cover large
portions of the ocean floor

b. Dinoflagellates (division, or phylum Dinophyta) – with 2 unequal flagella (one wrapped around a groove along the middle of the cell and one
trailing free. Responsible for red tides, other known for bioluminescence (light production).
c. Zooxanthellae: non-motile dinoflagellates adapted to live in close association with an animal host. Found in avariety of marine animals
especially in reef-building corals where they fix CO 2 by photosynthesis, release organic matter used by the coral and help in the formation of
the coral skeleton
 d. Silicoflagellates (Phylum Chrysophyta) – star shaped internal skeleton made of silica and a single flagellum
e. Coccolithophorids (Phylum Haptophyta) – flagellated, spherical cells covered with button-like structures (coccoliths) made of CaCO3
f. Cryptomonads (Phylum Cryptophyta) – 2 flagella, no skeleton

2. Protozoans – Animal-like protists – heterotrophic and ingest food like true animals
a. Foraminiferans (Phylum Foraminifera) - marine protozoans that usually have a shell, or test, made of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3), have long,
thin, retractable pseudopodia— used to trap diatoms and other organisms suspended in the water
b. Radiolarians (Phylum Polycystina) - when abundant, the remains of their shells settle to the bottom and form a siliceous ooze known as
radiolarian ooze
c. Ciliates (Phylum Ciliophora) - have many hair-like cilia, which are used in locomotion and feeding, most familiar ciliates are freshwater forms,
such as Paramecium and Tintinnids (drift in the water and build vase-like cases, or loricas, loosely fitting shells that drift in the water

Unit 2. Fungi
eukaryotic organisms that are superficially plant-like but unable to photosynthesize because they lack chlorophyll. Associate with algae forming
lichens: long, filament-like growths of the fungi provide support, while algae provide food through photosynthesis.

Most important characteristic of Marine Microbes

Unit 3. Plantae
1. Multicellular algae: the seaweeds/ macrophytes/ macroalgae
Far more complex than unicellular algae and reproduction is more elaborate – all are eukaryotic.
 Still lack the highly specialized structures and reproductive mechanisms of the mostly terrestrial plants. Lack true roots, stems or leaves and
whole body of plant but instead have:
 Thallus (complete body),
 Blades (leaf-like flattened portions of thallus),
 Pneumatocysts (gas-filled bladders that keep blades close to sea surface maximizing their exposure to sunlight),
 Stipe (stem like structure to provide support),
 Holdfast (looks like roots).

Types of seaweeds:
a. Green Algae (division, or phylum, Chlorophyta) – most live in freshwater and terrestrial environments. Cell wall: pectin, Pigment: Chlorophyll
a and b, Storage: starch.
b. Brown algae (division, or phylum, Phaeophyta) – include seaweeds that are the largest and structurally most complex algae, exclusively
marine, varies from olive green to dark brown due to yellow pigments (carotenoid pigment and fucoxathin) over chlorophyll (chlorophyll a
and c). Cell wall: Alginic acid, Storage: Laminarin, Mannitol – largest group: kelps. Largest kelp ( Macrocystis)
c. Red algae (division, or phylum, Rhodophyta) – cell wall: mucopolysaccharides (carrageenan, agar, porphyron), Pigment: Phycoerythrin,
Phycocyanin, Storage: Floridian starch

Reproduction is a complex affair in seaweeds:

a. Asexual, or vegetative, reproduction is common. Fragments of the thallus can often grow into new individuals, as occurs in the floating
masses of Sargassum of Sargasso Sea fame. Some seaweeds produce spores, which are cells specialized for dispersing to new locations
or persisting through unfavorable conditions. Some spores are protected by resistant cell walls; others have flagella for movement and are
known as zoospores.
b. Sexual reproduction – production of gametes. Gametes from two different individuals fuse, so that the new generation contains genetic
information from both parents. Cells of seaweeds (and of us all—clam, fish, or human) divide and produce identical cells by mitosis.
Seaweeds may also produce haploid spores or gametes by meiosis. Sexual reproduction may involve an alternation of a haploid (or
gametophyte) and a diploid (or sporophyte) generation.

2. Flowering plants – true leaves, stems and roots.

Reproduction involves a dominant sporophyte that
features an elaborate reproductive organ (the flower).
a. Seagrasses (Class Lilopsida) - superficially
resemble grass but actually are not grasses at all.
The closest relatives of certain seagrasses seem to
 be members of the lily family.
Have adapted to life in the marine environment. They are the only flowering plants that has adapted to a completely submerged life in the sea
due to some adaptations:
1) Adaptations to withstand wave energy - They have horizontal stems called rhizomes that commonly grow beneath the sediment. They
have extensive roots that provide anchorage as well as flat, ribbon-shaped leaves that are flexible enough to bend in the water
2) Adaptations to growing when completely submerged - Seagrass flowers are typically very small and inconspicuous because there is no
need to attract insects for pollination. The pollen, which contains the sperm, is carried instead by water currents (submarine pollination)
3) Air filled tissues called lacunae (contain oxygen) and aid in floatation.
4) Salt tolerance of up to 36 ppt
They are associated with shallow inter-tidal habitats, mangrove areas, coral reefs, semi enclosed lagoons and shoals; and have the
ability to tolerate a wide range of salinity. Seagrasses need more sunlight than algae which do not have underground parts. They need
more than 10% of the light falling at the water surface vs algae (need 1% only).
b. Salt-marsh plants - Cordgrasses (Spartina) are true members of the grass family. They are not really marine species but, rather, land plants
tolerant of salt. Unlike seagrasses, which are true marine species, cordgrasses do not tolerate total submergence by seawater.
Becomes submerged by seawater only at high tide, so their leaves are always partly exposed to air. Salt glands in the leaves excrete excess
salt. Other salt-tolerant plants, or halophytes, such as pickle weed (Salicornia), may be found at higher levels on the marsh.
c. Mangroves - are trees and shrubs adapted to live along tropical and subtropical shores around the world. They are essentially land plants
that can tolerate salt.
Mangroves are distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical oceans of the world. They are able to grow only on shores that are
sheltered from wave action. These shores may be directly along the lee sides (side of an island or reef protected from winds and waves) of
islands or on land masses protected by offshore coral reefs.
Mangroves are particularly well developed in estuarine areas, where they reach their greatest areal extent

Section 4. Invertebrates

 Animals without a backbone. At least 97% of all species of animals are invertebrates. Unit 1. Porifera – sponges or “pore bearers”
 Have a cellular level of organization, meaning that the cells are largely independent of each other and do not form true tissues and organs
 All are sessile - living permanently attached to the bottom or some other surface.
 Numerous tiny pores, or ostia, on the surface allow water to enter and circulate through a series of canals (lined with collar cells or choanocytes)
where plankton and organic particles are filtered out and eaten. Water then leaves through the osculum, a large opening on top of the sponge.
Each choanocyte has a flagellum that creates currents and a thin collar that traps food particles, which are then ingested by the body of the cell.
 Many sponges reproduce asexually when branches or buds break off and grow into separate sponges identical to the original one.
 Sponges also reproduce sexually by producing gametes (collar cells develop into gametes). Sponges typically release sperm into the water. The
release of gametes into the water is called broadcast spawning. The eggs, however, are usually retained inside the body and fertilization takes
place internally after sperm enter the sponge.
 Planktonic larva, called the parenchymula larva in most sponges, is carried by currents until it settles on the bottom and develops into a minute
sponge.
 Suspension feeders (animals that eat food particles suspended in the water). They actively filter food particles making them a type of filter feeder
known as filter feeders. In contrast, deposit feeders eat detritus that settles on the bottom
 Classes:
1. Calcarea-the skeleton consist of individual spicules of calcium carbonate
2. Hexactinellida (glass sponges)-members have spicules of silica fused in a continuous and often very beautiful latticework. Include venus
flower basket (Euplectella) where two shrimp (one male, one female) can be found 🡪 thus given as wedding presents
3. Demospongiae-the largest class, which has unfused silica spicules, or a tough, keratin-like protein called spongin, or a combination of the
two. Include the bath sponges.
4. Sclerospongiae-the smallest class, which have skeletons that contain all three kinds of materials: calcium carbonate, silica and spongin.

Unit 2. Cnidaria or Coelenterata

 Display radial symmetry, where similar parts of the body are arranged and repeated around a central axis. Oral surface, where the mouth is, and
an aboral surface on the opposite side.
 Have a centrally located mouth surrounded by tentacles, slender, finger-like extensions used to capture and handle food. The mouth opens into a
gut, where food is digested. The cnidarian gut is a blind cavity with only one opening, the mouth. Cnidarians capture small prey by discharging
their nematocysts (or cnidae), unique stinging structures found within cnidocytes, specialized cells in the tentacles
 Occur in two basic forms: a polyp, a sac-like attached stage with the mouth and tentacles oriented upward, and a bell-like medusa, or jellyfish,
which is like an upside-down polyp adapted for swimming
 Practically all are carnivores, lack a brain or true nerves, but have specialized nerve cells that interconnect to form a nerve net that transmits
impulses in all directions.
 Statocysts – small calcareous bodies in fluid filled chambers surrounded by sensitive hairs – give medusa a sense of balance

 Classes:
1. Hydrozoa – Portuguese man of war
(Physalia) which has tentacles
reaching 50 meters long, fire corals
2. Scyphozoa – jellyfish. Manubarium
serves as mouth of jellyfish.
3. Cubozoa – box jelly, sea wasp
4. Anthozoa – sea anemone, corals
Unit 3. Ctenophores of comb jellies (phylum Ctenophora)

Radially symmetrical invertebrates similar in appearance to cnidarians but possessing 8 rows of ciliary combs. Has colloblasts – two
long tentacles armed with sticky cells used to capture prey

Unit 4. Bilaterally symmetrical worms

Bilateral symmetry - arrangement of body parts in such a way that there is only one way to cut the body and get two identical halves. Has anterior and
posterior end, dorsal and ventral surface
1. Flatworms (phylum Platyhelminthes) - Dorsoventrally flattened—that is, they have flat backs and bellies. Have true organs and organ systems,
including a central nervous system. Can regenerate due to abundance of neoblast (totipotent cells. Totipotency is the ability of a single cell to
divide and produce all the differentiated cells in an organism) Includes:
a. Turbellarians (free-living): Planaria (freshwater flatworm) and Polycladid (marine flatworm)
b. Digeneans or Flukes or trematodes (endoparasitic): all are parasites. Digeneans have 2 or more hosts usually mollusc as first intermediate
host then vertebrates as definitive host. Example: eggs enter the intestines of vertebrate host then eliminated in feces, the eggs then hatch
in the water, larvae (miracidium) invades a snail (mollusc), miracidium develops as cercaria (swimming stage) that may penetrate or be
eaten by another host, it then develops in the host to a metacercaria (enclosed in clear cyst), o Includes causative agent of Schistosomiasis.
c. Tapeworms or Cestodes (endoparasitic): long body divided into repeated units (proglottids), lack a gut or mouth and absorb nutrients from
their host’s intestinal contents
d. Monogenea (ectoparasitic): single host, direct life cycle, eggs hatch into ciliated larvae called oncomiracidia
2. Ribbonworms (phylum Nemertea) – has proboscis (long, fleshy tube used to entangle prey)
3. Roundworms (phylum Nematoda) – very common inhabitants of marine sediments and widespread parasites of most groups of marine animals.
Adults of Anisakis inhabit intestine of seals and dolphin, larvae in the flesh of fish infect humans when raw or poorly cooked fish is eaten
4. Segmented worms (phylum Annelida) - body consists of similar components or segment (each segment is called metamere). Each segment
bears one or more chitinous bristles called setae. Planktonic larval stage are called trocophores (used as food for larvae). Includes:
a. Polychaeta (many bristles) – almost all marine annelids are polychaetes. Example: Nereis sandworms and clamworms

b. Oligochaeta (few bristles) – Lacks parapodium (which is present in polychaetes), marine relatives of earthworms
c. Hirudinea – blood sucking leeches, highly specialized annelids distinguished by sucker at each end and no parapodia

Unit 5. Mollusca

 Malacology (study of molluscs), Conchology (study of shells)

 Has the most number of species (110,000 species) in a phylum in the ocean. However, arthropods have the most number of animals in a phylum,
making it the largest.
 Have a soft body enclosed in a calcium carbonate shell, body is covered by a mantle (thin layer of tissue that secretes the shell. Bilaterally
symmetrical.
 There is a ventral, muscular foot, usually used in locomotion. A feature unique to molluscs is the radula, a ribbon of small teeth that is used to
feed, usually by rasping food from surfaces
 Classes:
1. Gastropoda “stomach footed”
Snails, periwinkles, limpets, abalones, whelks
Nudibranchs or sea slugs – snails that have lost the shell together
 Trocophore and veliger are larval stages of gastropod. Trocophore is the free-swimming larval stage. After this stage it becomes a veliger
which mature to a point called “competence” where they settle to the substratum and metamorphose to become the juvenile stage
2. Bivalvia “hatchet foot” – laterally compressed foot
Body is laterally compressed and enclosed in 2 valved shell, no radula
Clams: when buried, water is drawn in and out of the mantle cavity through siphons formed by the fusion of the edge of the mantle –
burrowers
Mussels: not burrowers, secrete strong byssal threads that attach them to rocks and other surfaces
Osyters: cement their left shell to a hard surface, often the shell of another oyster o Pearl oysters (Pinctada) – pearls are formed when the
oyster secretes shiny layers of calcium carbonate to coat irritating particles or parasites lodged between the mantle and the iridescent inner
surface of the shell
Scallops (Pecten): live unattached and can swim for short distance by rapidly ejecting water from the mantle cavity and clapping the valves
Giant clam (Tridacna): largest bivalve
3. Cephalopoda “head footed”
Voracious predators specialized for locomotion. Head is below the rest of the body. o Octopus: lack a shell, 8 long arms, distract potential
predators by emitting a dark fluid produced by the ink sac
Squid (Loligo): mantle forms 2 triangular fins, 10 arms with suckers circle the mouth. Two of them (tentacles) are long and retractable and
have suckers only at the broadened tips. Giant squid – Architeuthis
Cuttlefishes (Sepia) – eight arms and 2 tentacles, body is flattened and has a fin running along the sides. Calcified internal shell (cuttlebone)
aids in buoyancy
Chambered Nautilus – 90 tentacles
4. Aplacophora (solenogasters) – small, wormlike, primitive, no shell
5. Monoplacophora – 1 shell, resemble limpets
6. Polyplacophora (chitons) – 8 valves in shell

Unit 6. Arthropoda

 Largest phylum of animals that include insects, arachnids and crustaceans. Segmented and bilaterally symmetrical. Jointed appendages such as
legs and mouthparts.
 Chitinous external skeleton or exoskeleton thus to grow, molting is required.
 An arthropod in order to grow must shed its old exoskeleton and secrete a new one. This process of moulting (or molting in American English) is
expensive in terms of energy consumption and during the moulting period an arthropod is vulnerable.
 Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticula, which is shed during growth, and a new covering of larger dimensions is formed. In preparation for
ecdysis, the arthropod will become inactive for a period of time and during this time will undergo apolysis (separation of cuticle from epidermis).
During apolysis, an arthropod becomes dormant for a period of time.
 Arthropods have an open circulatory system, a dorsal heart and a ventra nervous system. The circulatory fluid in a cavity called the haemocoel
bathes the organs directly with no distinction between blood and interstitial fluid; this combined fluid is called haemolymph. Haemolymph, a
copper-based blood analogue contains 2 copper atoms rather than iron as in haemoglobin.
 Subphylum Chelicerata - include spiders, sea spiders, mites, scorpions and related organisms. They are characterized by the presence of
chelicerae.
 Subphylum Myriapoda – comprise millipedes and centipedes
 Subphylum Hexapoda – includes Class Insecta distinguished from other arthropods by having only 3 pairs of legs as adult
 Subphylum Crustacea – primarily marine (except woodlice). 2 pairs of antennae which are usually involved in sensing the surrounding.
Appendages:
a. 2 prs of antennae: 1st homologous to antennae of insects and myriapods, 2nd homologous to chelicerae
b. 3rd pair of head appendages are mandibles
c. Biramous- terminal segment with endopod and exopod
Class Malacostraca - the largest class of crustaceans, represent two thirds of all crustacean species and contain all the larger forms (lobsters,
crabs, shrimps, krill and woodlice). The generalized body plan comprises a head, a thorax of eight segments (of which at least one is fused with
the head) and an abdomen of six segments. The appendages of the thorax are generally called pereiopods and, depending on the species, the
first one, two or three pairs are associated with feeding. The remaining pairs are for walking and grasping. The first five pairs of abdominal
appendages, called pleopods, are usually similar to each other and are involved in a variety of functions, including swimming, producing
currents, serving as gills or carrying eggs. The last abdominal segment bears a pair of appendages known as uropods, which together with the
terminal telson often form a tail fan
Order Decapoda “ten legs” – five pairs of walking legs, the front three pairs function as mouthparts and are generally referred to as maxillipeds;
the remainder (4 pairs) are primarily walking legs and are also used for gathering food and are referred to as pereiopods. In many decapods,
however, one pair of legs has enlarged pincers; the claws are called chelae, so those legs may be called chelipeds. Cephalothorax enclosed by
 carapace, rest of the body is abdomen. Includes prawn, shrimp, crabs and lobster.

Exoskeleton contains a carotenoid astaxanthin. When uncooked, astaxanthin pigments are hidden because they are covered with protein chains
(give shells their bluish gray color) – heat from cooking destroys this protein, releasing astaxanthin molecules (orange)
o Class Branchiopoda – includes Artemia and Daphnia
o Class Maxillopoda – includes barnacles, copepods, fish lice

Unit 7. Echinodermata

 Radially symmetrical: pentamerous radial symmetry – symmetry based on 5 pairs

 Endoskeleton and unique vascular system, a network of water filled canal that connects to the outside through a madreporite (porous plate on the
aboral surface).
 Podia are tube feet which are tentacle-like structures. Pedicellariae are minute stalked appendages that are found among the spines of echinoids.
They keep the surface clean.
 Coelomic fluid transports oxygen since they lack a distinct circulatory system
 Regeneration – ability to grow lost or damaged body parts is highly developed
 Classes:
1. Asteroidea – sea stars, star fish
Has ambulacral groove – radiating channel where the tube feet (podia) protrude
o Includes Acanthaster plancii (crown of thorns) – predator of corals
Ophiuroidea – brittle stars
Called brittle stars because of their habit of releasing arms to escape predator or other antagonistic behaviors, this process of releasing is
called autotomy. The lost limb is eventually regenerated.
2. Echinoidea – sea urchin
Mouth is on the bottom (South pole) and anus on top (North pole)
Has an intricate system of jaws and muscles called Aristotle’s lantern used to bite off algae and other bits of food from the bottom. The shell
is called test.
Heart urchin and sea dollar – echinoids adapted to live in soft bottoms by having flattened bodies and short spines
3. Holothuroidea – sea cucumber
No spines and lack radial symmetry
Evisceration: sudden expulsion of the gut and other internal organs through the mouth/ anus
Stichopus variegatus – largest sea cucumber
4. Crinoidea – crinoids
Use outstretched feathery arms to obtain food from water. Each arm bears suckerless podia that produce mucus to capture detritus and
transport it to the mouth
Feather stars, sea lilies
Unit 8. Rotifera

 The name "rotifer" is derived from the Latin word meaning "wheel-bearer"; this makes reference to the crown of cilia around the mouth of the
rotifer. The rapid movement of the cilia in some species makes them appear to whirl like a wheel
 Rotifers can be classified as small (50-1000 μm) zooplankton that occur in freshwater, brackish, and marine environments. Rotifers feed on
microalgae and are consumed by a wide variety of fish, shellfish, corals, and other organisms.
 They are used extensively in aquaculture and aquariums because of their very high reproductive rates (as great as doubling or better every 24
hours), ease of culturing, optimal size for larval fish, and nutritional profile that can be tailored to the needs of prey species by use of special
feeds
 The general body plan of a rotifer consists of four basic regions: head, neck, trunk (body), and the foot. In most species, the head carries a
corona (crown) of cilia that draws a vortex of water into the mouth, which the rotifer sifts for food. The food itself is ground by the trophi (jaws),
located just behind the mouth in the pharynx (throat). Trophi are found in almost all rotifers, and are characteristic organs of the phylum Rotifera.
 Rotifers have no specific organs for respiration; their small size allows them to exchange respiratory gasses by diffusion across their body wall
 Many rotifers are quite tolerant to desiccation (anhydrobiosis). Under harsh conditions some can cease metabolism and dehydrate. They can
survive for years and then be rehydrated and active within few hours
 Females can produce three types of eggs:
1. Amictic eggs – Diploid eggs produced by parthenogenesis, produced during most of the year
2. Mictic eggs – Haploid eggs, capable of being fertilized by male sperm, produced only in certain times of the year (when conditions are ideal),
if female with eggs is not impregnated she immediately lays the egg and they hatch as males
3. Resting (winter) eggs – Heavy and thick shelled, overwinter on sediment, extremely resistant to drying and extreme temperature.
 Two classes:
1. Monogononta – includes Brachionus used in aquaculture
2. Bdelloidea – capable of cryptobiosis. Cryptobiosis – metabolic stage of life entered by an organism in response to adverse environmental
conditions such as dessication (anhydrobiosis), freezing (cryobiosis) and oxygen deficiency (anoxybiosis). When environmental conditions
return to being hospitable, the organism will return to its metabolic state of life prior cryptobiosis

Section 5. Vertebrates (phylum Chordata) – Fishes

 To be classified as a vertebrate, one must have the following:

1. A single, hollow nerve cord that runs along the dorsal length of the animal (becomes the spinal cord)
2. Gill (or pharyngeal) slits, small openings along the anterior part of the gut (or pharynx)
3. A notochord, a flexible rod for support that lies between the nerve cord and gut (replaced by the backbone)
 Ichthyology is the branch of biology devoted to the study of fishes.
 “Fish” can be both singular and plural, but in all cases it refers to a single species.
 “Fishes” is always plural and always refers to more than one species. For example, an aquarium full of guppies (Poeciliareticulatus) is full of fish;
the ocean is full of fishes.
 All fish are craniates, or animals with a brain surrounded and protected by a braincase and a distinct head region with a pair of eyes, teeth, and
other sensory organs. They are vertebrates with vertebrae surrounding and protecting the spinal cord (except hagfish).
 Most fishes Are aquatic organisms, or animals that live in water (except mudskipper which can live outside of water)
 They respire or breathe primarily with gills rather than lungs (except fishes like lungfishes, some catfishes, and gars that do not rely only on gills
to respire; they have lungs or other breathing structures. This is not surprising because these animals can sometimes live in oxygen poor waters
where using gills alone may not be enough to survive)
 They have appendages, or fins that help the fish move through the water
 They are “cold blooded” (ectothermic) , or unable to regulate their own internal body temperatures like humans do. Their body temperatures
change based on the temperature of the environment they are (except like tunas which are essentially warm blooded because of specialized
features of their muscles and circulatory system)

Unit 1. Taxonomy of Vertebrate Fishes - see appendix for taxonomy

1. Class Agnatha (jawless fishes)

o They lack jaws, they feed by suction with the aid of a round, muscular mouth and rows of teeth. Includes:
a. Hagfishes, or slime eels (Myxine, Eptatretus), are jawless fishes that feed mostly on dead or dying fishes. They sometimes bore into their
prey and eat them from the inside out – not technically considered vertebrates
b. Lampreys (Petromyzon) breed in rivers and lakes, but some move to the sea as adults
2. Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fishes)
Skeleton made of cartilage, a material that is lighter and more flexible than bone, movable jaws that are usually armed with well-developed
system.
Presence of paired lateral fins for swimming and rough sandpaper-like skin (placoid scales). Includes:
a. Subclass Elasmobranchs or Sharks and Rays
1) Selachii – sharks
 ⮚ Powerful heterocercal caudal fin; two dorsal fins; paired pectoral fins, 5-7 gill slits; teeth nearly overlapping with lost ones easily
replaced by new ones
⮚ Some need to swim continuously to ventilate the gills; predatory
⮚ Inhabits all depths and oceans, most abundant in tropical coastal waters; some enter rivers and lakes and live there; some restricted
to deep waters
⮚ Hunted for their meat, liver, fins, skin (shagreen) and cartilage
⮚ Slow growing, low fecundity but over fished and endangered
2) Batoidea - Rays and skates
a. Rays – gill slits (always five pairs) on the underside of the body – located ventrally – rather than on the sides, eyes on top of head,
pectoral fins are expanded, looking almost like wings
⮚ Sting rays (Dasyatidae) – have a whip like tail usually equipped with stinging spines for defense
⮚ Electric rays (Torpedo) – have special organs on each side of the head that can produce electricity
⮚ Manta ray (Manta birostris – giant manta ray)
b. Skates (Raja) – similar to rays but lack a whip like tail and tinging spines
b. Subclass Holocephali - Ratfishes or chimaeras – gill slits covered by a flap of skin
3. Class Osteichthyes (bony fishes)
 Skeleton with true bones; skull with sutures; teeth usually fused to the bones, soft rays usually segmented; nasal openings on each side
usually double, and dorsal. Swim bladder or functional lungs present.
 Difference versus cartilaginous fishes:
 Includes:
a. Subclass Sarcopterygii or lungfishes and coelacanths
1) Order Dipnoi (or Dipneusti) – lungfishes have heterocercal tail; single or double dorsal fins; cosmoid scales; presence of pineal
common
2) Crossopterygii – tassel-finned fishes and coelacanths have two dorsal fins; paired fins lobate; cosmoid scales.
b. Subclass Brachiopterygii – Birchirs are temperate fishes; rhombic ganoid scales; spiracles present; dorsal fins 5-8 finlets; pair of gular
plates; no branchiostegals; intestine with spiral valve; lungs partially used in respiration.
c. Subclass Actinopterygii – ray-finned fishes; scales ganoid, cycloid or ctenoid and absent in other groups; spiracles usually absent;
finlets if present are attached to body, not to a fin spine; interopercle and branchiostegals usually present; gular plate often absent;
nostrils relatively high up on head.
 Some facts on fishes:
o 58% of the total number of species is found in marine environment
o 41% are in fresh water
o 1% move regularly between the two environments (the diversity if fresh water is brought by the isolation of habitats, thus higher opportunity to
evolve into a different species) of the 58% total marine species
o 13% is associated with the open oceans (1% in the surface, 5% in the unlighted sections, and 7% on the bottom
o 45% of all fishes live in the normal band of water 200m or less
o Most fish are readily recognizable as fish despite of the diversity of adaptations. This is due to the physical and chemical characteristics of
seawater (or freshwater) which imposes a number of constraints on functional design
o Smallest Fish – Paedocypris progenetica – carp family
o Largest Fish – Rhincodon typus – whale shark
 All orders of bony fishes end in the suffix "iformes" while names of bony fish families all end in the suffix “dae”. More than 28,000 species of bony
fishes have been documented. It's likely that many more, including some deep-sea species, have yet to be identified.
 Fossil Records:
o Primitive fishes date back to the Cambrian period, about 550 million years ago. These jawless fishes lived relatively unchanged over the
following 100 million years
o The Devonian period, about 360 to 400 million years ago, is known as the "Age of Fishes", because of the abundance and diversity of fishes
that appeared during this period.
o In the Devonian, fishes began to develop jaws and paired fins. All four living classes of fishes and the three subclasses of Osteichthyes were
established by the mid-Devonian. Many species of fish that lived during the Devonian are now extinct.
o Bony fishes continued to evolve after the Devonian period. Most modern orders of bony fishes probably evolved during the Triassic period,
about 200 million years ago.
o Today, the Actinoptergians are the dominant vertebrates in the oceans and in freshwater systems.
o The most recently evolved orders of bony fishes include the Pleuronectiformes (flatfishes) and Tetraodontiformes (triggerfishes, pufferfishes,
and molas).
 Classes and orders of fish

Unit 2. External Anatomy of Fishes

I. Body shape and Locomotion

 Body shape – directly related to lifestyle. Example:
 Fast swimmers like sharks, tunas ( Thunnus, Euthynnus) , mackerels (Scomber, Scomberomorus), and marlins (Makaira) have a streamlined
body shape (fusiform) that helps them move through the water
Laterally compressed bodies are good for leisurely swimming around coral reefs, kelp beds, or rocky reefs but are still efficient enough to allow
for bursts of speed to escape from enemies or capture food. This body form is seen in many inshore fishes like snappers ( Lutjanus), wrasses
(Labroides, Thalassoma), damselfishes (Amphiprion, omacentrus), and butterflyfishes (Chaetodon)
A depressed (flattened, top-to-bottom) body shape is common in bottom-dwelling fishes. Goosefishes (family Lophidae), batfishes (family
Ogcocephalidae) and flounder (Platichthys) are examples of bony fishes with a depressed body shape.
Eel-like fishes often live in narrow spaces in rocks or coral reefs
Slow swimmers feature bodies that are elongated on a vertical plane as in the seahorse ( Hippocampus), triangular as in the trunkfish ( Ostracion),
or round as in the porcupine fish (Diodon)
 Difference of cartilaginous and bony fishes in terms of locomotion
a. Cartilaginous fishes do not have swim bladder thus having the tendency to sink. To compensate, they have large oil in liver (squalene) for
buoyancy and have large fins and lobes of fins to create lift. Their myomeres have bands of muscle which produce rhythmic contractions
b. Bony fishes have greater maneuverability since swim bladders create lift. Fins are used as rudder to steer. Other modifications in
locomotion:
1. Flying fishes (Crypselurus) – greatly expnanded pectoral fins that they use to glide through the air
2. Clingfishes (Gobiesox) – pelvic fins modified into a sucker that allows them to attach to rocks
3. Remoras or sharksuckers (Echeneis) – sucker derived from part of dorsal fin
II. Fins
 Fins are broaden appendages present on the body of fishes and are the chief locomotory organs. Fins are supported by skeletal rods called the
radials and dermal fin rays. In teleosts the fin rays are branched and jointed bony structures and are known as the lepidotrichia. The fins without
fin rays called adipose fins.

A. Paired fins

1. Pelvic fins – Originally found towards the rear of the fish (abdominal placement) these are paired fins. They are absent or reduced in eels
and eel-like fish and in some bottom-dwelling species they have become modified into clasping organs. They are the most variable, in terms
of placement, of all a fishes fins. They can be found near the front of the fish, below the pectoral fins (thoracic placement), or even, in a few
cases, in front of the pectorals (jugular placement). Used for steering or braking.
2. Pectoral fins – These are paired fins that are normally located just behind the gills. They are often found lower down on the body in
evolutionarily older fish species and higher upon the body in more modern forms. Used for stability. In some fishes, pectoral fins are adapted
for other functions.
a. Some bony fishes, such as the hawkfishes (Cirrhitichthys spp.) use their pectoral fins to help them "perch" at the bottom and on reef
areas.
b. Mudskippers (family Periophthalmidae) support themselves on land with their pectoral fins.
o Mudskipper (Periopthalmus gracilis) - Completely amphibious fish, they can use their pectoral fins to walk on land. Being amphibious,
they are uniquely adapted to intertidal habitats, unlike most fish in such habitats which survive the retreat of the tide by hiding under
wet seaweed or in tidal pools. They are quite active when out of water, feeding and interacting with one another, for example to defend
their territories.
c. The pectoral fins of flying fishes (family Exocoetidae) are extremely long, an adaptation that allows flying fish to glide over water as far
as 150 m (492 ft.) and remain airborne as long as 20 seconds.
d. Some bottom-dwelling fishes such as threadfins (family Polynemidae) have taste buds and touch receptors on their pectoral fins to
locate food.
e. For some fishes, such as wrasses (family Labridae), pectoral fins are the main source of power for swimming.

B. Median fins or unpaired fins

1. Dorsal fin – This is one, but sometimes two, unpaired fin or fins found on the upper surface, or back of the animal. In the bony fish they are
quite manoeuvrable and can be raised, lowered or undulated. In eels and eel-like fish it may be united with the upper lobe of the caudal fin.
Used for stability while swimming.
2. Anal fin – This is a single centrally oriented fin found on the lower side of the fish behind both the pelvic fins and the anus. Used also for
stability while swimming.
3. Caudal fin – This is the tail fin. For swimming, propulsion and adds stability.
Major Types of Caudal Fin:
a. Homocercal – two lobes of fin are similar in shape
b. Protocercal – this type of tail is regarded as the most primitive type. The notochord is straight and extends up to the tip of the tail,
dividing the latter into two equal parts. The fin fold continues with the dorsal and the anal fins to form a continuous fold, unsupported by
the fin rays. Such a type of fin is found in cyclostomes and the living lung fishes.
c. Diphycercal refers to the special, three-lobed caudal fin of the coelacanth and lungfish where the vertebrae extend all the way to the
end of the tail.
d. Heterocercal – the notochord bends upwards at its posterior end, so that the dorsal lobe of the tail is almost lacking or represented by a
few spines, while the ventral lobe becomes well developed. The large sized ventral lobe possesses a longer postero-dorsal and a
 shorter antero-ventral lobe. Consequently the tail becomes asymmetrical, both externally and internally. Such type of tail is mainly
found among the elasmobranches.
1) Epicercal – means that the upper lobe is longer (as in sharks)
2) Hypocercal – means that the lower lobe is longer (as in flying fish)
a) Isocercal – the spine is drawn out into a long and straight rod like structure. The fin fold develops, both, above and below the
rod, in the form of the marginal extensions of the tails and remains supported by the fin rays. Such tails are found in some
deep sea fishes and in many fresh water teleosts belonging to Anguilliformes, Notopteridae, Gymnarchidae, Macruridae and
Blennidae.
b) Gephyrocercal – this type of tail is very much like the isocercal, but the fins are reduced to vestiges. The caudal lobe or
peduncle is truncated and the hypurals in the spinal colunm are not found. Such fin types are found in Fierasfer and in
Orthagoriscus.

C. Other types of Tail

1. Adipose fin – A small fin without any strengthening rays that is only found in a few groups of fish such as the Myctophidae, Osmeridae and
Salmonidae as well as some catfish. It is located on the upper surface of the body between the dorsal fin and the upper lobe of the caudal
fin.
2. Finlets – part of the second dorsal fin

III. Spines
 Spines are a perpendicular skeleton projected out of the body of fish. They are solid bony structure without segmentation and are round if seen in
cross-section. These are usually associated in dorsal, anal and pectoral fins. True spines are characteristics of most derived teleosts or modern
fishes. Spines of goldfish, carps, catfishes, are stiffened and thickened rays which are segmented, dumbbell shaped in cross-section and often
branched.
 Spines that precede the dorsal fin in some sharks are modified placoid scales and are stings of skates. Spines are effective means of protection.
They are lightweight for they are located at fish’s center of mass. It also increases the effective size of an individual, thus reducing the number of
predators. (Note that large predators are fewer than small predators.)
 Well-developed spines are found mainly in small to medium-sized fish that actively forage for their food. Other spines have poison glands.
 Some Terminologies:
o Actinotrichia = Spines
o Ceratotrichia = The fin rays of cartilaginous fish (inflexible, unbranched and unsegmented)
o Lepidotrichia = The fin rays of bony fishes (branched, flexible and segmented)

IV. Gill opening and mouth

 Operculum – thin and flexible gill opening of bony fishes which is important component of two-pump respiratory system. Smaller on fish with low
activity levels than fish that are more active. In eels, openings are typically reduced to holes (small holes) presumably because of problems
associated with raising and lowering of the opercular bones under confined conditions.
 Sharks have SPIRACLES (small openings used for the intake of water for respiration). This is dorsally located in the rays and laterally located in
most sharks.
 Many fishes are identified by looking at or into the mouth. The number of mouth-types exhibited by different species is nothing short of
astonishing. Three lakes in Africa contained about 900 species of cichlids, nearly all differentiated mainly by the way their mouths are shaped.
Cichlid mouths in Lakes Victoria, Malawi, and Tanganyika are variously adapted to eat other cichlids' eggs, scales pulled from fishes' living
bodies, algae from rocks, tiny invertebrates, and many other forms of food.

o The arrowana of South America has a mouth adapted for spitting water with precision at insects perched on overhead branches.
o Parrotfish mouths have evolved to look and act like beaks, which they use to grind at coral, making the sand that surrounds coral reefs.
o Seahorses and pipefish have tubular mouths for sucking in small prey in narrow places like a vacuum cleaner.
o Butterflyfishes use a long snout and small mouth to feed on very small prey
o The extremely protrusible mouth of slipmouth is used for feeding on relatively small prey
o Herrings and other filter feeders typically have large mouths
 Mouth Types of fishes:
1. Inferior mouth – used for feeding in the sea bottom. Upper jaw is longer than the lower jaw and the opening is located at the ventral side of
the fish. Example: sharks
2. Superior mouth – foraging in the surface areas. The opening of the mouth is located at the dorsal side near the top of the head Example:
remorra
3. Terminal mouth – used for horizontal grasp. The mouth opening is located equally distant from the dorsal and ventral positions of the upper
and lower jaws. Example: mackerel
4. Lateral – this type of mouth is found in solefish
5. Beaklike – the upper and lower jaws are pointed and prolonged equally like the common garfish
6. Spout – the upper and lower jaws are coalesced and prolonged like a pipe, and at the tip is a small opening where food passes. Example:
seahorse and pipe fish
 7. Protrusible – Bony fishes have protrusible jaws that allow them much more flexibility in feeding habits vs sharks and rays (Note: only 3
species of sharks are filter feeders: Whale shark ( Rhincodon typus), Megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios), Basking shark (Cetorhinus
maximus) showing less flexibility in feeding habits)
a) Small mouth – fish that feeds on small invertebrates
b) Large mouth – fish that feeds on large invertebrates

Unit 3. Skeletal, Integumentary and muscular systems in fishes

 The skeleton of bony fishes is made of bone and cartilage. The vertebral column, cranium, jaw, ribs, and intramuscular bones make up a bony
fish's skeleton. The skeleton of a bony fish gives structure, provides protection, assists in leverage, and (along with the spleen and the kidney) is
a site of red blood cell production (hematopoiesis). It also acts as a point of attachment for muscles providing the leverage needed to produce
movement. The skeleton also acts as a site for mineral storage.
 The skeleton of elasmobranchs is made of cartilage. Vestigial ribs give no support. The skeleton may be partially calcified to some extent with
calcium phosphates and carbonates, particularly in the vertebral column. The calcified cartilage is not a true bone.
o The cartilage of a shark's skeleton may be important in future cancer research. Shark cartilage contains an active ingredient that has been
known to inhibit tumor growth. In addition, sharks rarely develop cancer.
o A shark's cranium is a single compact cartilaginous block which encloses the brain, olfactory, and auditory capsules. Jaws are loosely attached
to it.
o Without hard bones, red blood cells are produced in the kidneys and a special organ called an epigonal. White blood cells are created in the
spleen and spiral valve within the intestine.

A. Axial Skeleton

1. Skull. The skull is very essential because serves the entry point of food and water. It is also the site of major sensory organs. It serves as a
protective container to the brain and the gills. Major muscles are also attached to the skull. And the skull must be a streamlined entry point
necessary for efficient swimming. Includes:
a. Cranium
1) Posterior most part of cranium – occipital region - made up of four bones supra occipital, basiocciptal, and two exooccipitals.
2) The otic region – four bones namely the protic, the epiotic, sphenotic and the pterotic.
3) Roof of skull is composed of parietals and frontals. Floor of the skull is composed of parasphenold.
4) The nasal or ethmoidal region is composed of nine bones.
5) Neurocranium encloses and protects the brain and most of the sense organs while Branchiocranium consists of jaws, hyoid arch,
opercular bones, and the gill arches.
b. Visceral skeleton – made up of several pairs of visceral arches.
1) First pair is the mandibular. The mandibular arch (known as palatoquadrate cartilage in chondrichthyes ) forms the upper (maxilla) and
lower jaws (premaxilla). The upperjaw consists of premaxilla, maxilla, palatine, metapterygoid and quadrate. Similarly lower jaw consists
of dentary angular and articular bones.
2) Second pair is the hyoid. The hyoid arch is formed of hyomandibular dorsally and the epihyal, the ceratohyale and the hypohyale
ventrally. The posterior corner supports the tongue and the floor of mouth cavity.
3) Five branchial arches. The last five pairs of visceral arches are called the gill or branchial arches. First four branchial arches bear gill
lamellae while the last one is without gill lamellae.
c. Vertebral Column – comprised of 37 or 38 well ossified amphiceolous vertebrae. The embryonal notochord in adult is replaced by the centra
of vertebrae, but in sturgeon it persists primitively unchanged throughout the life of the fish.
1) It ranges from a cartilage sheath around a notochord to a cartilaginous without centra (lampreys) with centra (sharks) to a partially
ossified cartilage (catfish) to a solid bone on teleosts. Centra is the round centers of vertebrae
2) The vertebrae feature dorsal neural processes that form an arch to accommodate the spinal cord.
3) In between are the trunk vertebrae composed of the ventral (pleural) and dorsal (neural) ribs.
4) Urostyle - last 3-5 vertebrae fused and modified to support the caudal fin

d. Appendicular skeleton.
It includes mainly the bones of pectoral and pelvic girdles.
1. The pectoral girdle lies just behind the last branchial arch. Each half of the girdle consists of a dorsal scapula and a ventral coracoid. The
glenoid cavity is developed at their common meeting points. In addition to these two bones, a series of dermal bones are also added to the
pectoral girdle in front. These are post-temporal, supra-cleithrum, cleithrum (largest bone) or clavicle and post-cleithrum. The pectoral fin
skeleton includes four radials a pterygiophore and 19 lepidotricha. Thus radials articulate with the girdle at the glenoid facet at one end
while their other ends carry dermal fin rays.
2. The pelvic girdle lies in the ventral abdominal wall anterior to anal fin. The pelvic fin skeleton includes three radials, carrying nine dermal fin
rays which are long and jointed.

 The integumentary system comprises the skin and its derivatives. Functions:
o It forms the external covering of the body and performs a number of important functions in fishes. It protects the body from injury and infections
(due to parasites, fungus bacteria and other microorganisms).
 o The mucous coated skin lubricates the fish to reduce body friction in water at the time of swimming
o The derivatives of the skin play an important role in the metabolic activities of the body.
o Exoskeleton in the form of scales, plates or denticles are important derivatives of the skin which provide protection to the body.
o It can absorb the dissolved nutritive substances from the surrounding water.
o It repairs the surface wounds.
o It acts as respiratory organ in eel and climbing perch due to the highly vascular dermis of their skin.
o The derivatives of the skin play an important role in the metabolic activities of the body. In some species special structures like the electric
organs, poisonous glands, phosphorescent organs are also integermentary derivatives. In some species glandular cells modify into poison glands
(Scorpion fish, toad fish) and are used for defense and protection. In marine fishes accessory organs like electric organs, which are defence in
nature are the skin derivatives. Chromatophores of various kinds present in the dermis give beautiful colour patterns to the body.

⮚ Ichthyotoxism – study of poison glands and their secretion (venomous fishes: chimaeras, stargazers, rays)
⮚ Icththyosarcotoxism – intoxication resulting from eating poisonous fishes
⮚ Icthyoacantoxism – resulting from stun by venomous fishes

 Structure of the Skin

o Fish skin is made up of two layers, an outer epidermis and an inner dermis:

A. The epidermis consists of several layers of flattered stratified epitheliurn cells. Epidermis is ectodermal in origin. The deepest layers are
made up of columnar cells forms the stratum germinatum where the cells always multiply mitotically to replace the outer worn cells. The
stratum corneum which is the superficial layer of dead cells present in terrestrial vertebrates, is absent in fishes.
B. The dermis consists of connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves and cutaneous sense organs, pigment cells and is mesodermal in origin.
The fibres of connective tissue are almost are parallel to the surface. Pigment cells occur only in the outer part of the dermis. The thin upper
layer of loose connective tissue is called the stratum spongeosum and the thicker dense lower layer as stratrum compactum. Number of
flask shaped or tubular mucous cells are scattered among the epidermal cells and may even extend into the dermis. The cells secrete
mucin, a glycoprotein, which mixes with water to form a thick, slimy mucous, covering the whole body. Mucous cells develop from the
stratum germinatum and migrate to the surface. The shape, size and number of mucous cells will vary in different species of fishes. Different
types of scales like placoid, cycloid, ganoid will develop depended up the type of fish from the dermis.

o Skin derivatives include:

A. Scales – skin derivatives which cover and protects the body. Most of the fishes are covered by an exoskeleton madeup of scale.
⮚ Few fishes like catfishes are naked without scales. Some species like Polyodon and Acipenser will have scales or plates only at some
localized regions of the body.
⮚ Placoid scales are the characteristic of the Chondrichthyes; ganoid scales are found in primitive bony fishes; cycloid scales and ctenoid
scales are found in the higher teleosts. Cycloid and ctenoid scales are helpful in determination of the age and growth rate of fishes.

⮚ Types of scales
1. Cosmoid scale - found in the extinct crossopterygii and dipnoi fishes and are not found in living fishes. The external layer of the scale is
thin and enamel like, it is vitrodentine. The middle layer is made up of hard; non-cellular dentine like material called the cosmine. The
inner layer is made up of vascularised bony substance, isopedine.
2. Ganoid scale – possessed by primitive actinopterygians. These are heavy and have an outer layer of inorganic, enamel like material
called ganoine. The middle layer is having numerous branching tubules and contains cosmine. The innermost layer is thick and is
made up of lamella bone, isopedine.
3. Placoid scale – characteristic feature of the sharks. Placoid scales consists of a rhombosidal basal plate and a flat trident spine. The
scales are firmly anchored in the dermis by means of strong connective tissue fibres called the Sharpey’s fibes. External layer is
hardened vitrodentine and they are homologous with the vertebrate teeth in the mode of development and nature of dentine.
4. Bony ridge scales or cycloid and ctenoid scale – majority of the teleostean fishes possess these scales. They are thin, flexible
transperent structures due to the absence of the first and middle layers of other types.
Cycloid scales are thin and roughly rounded in shape being thicker in the center and thinner in the margin. They are found in large
number of teleostean fishes (eg. Labeo, Catla, Barbus, Cirrhina, etc). They form a projective coverup over the skin and projects
diagonally in an imbricating pattern. The anterior area lies embded in the skin. Sometimes even chromotophores are attached to the
exposed portion of the scales.
The ctenoid scales are also circular and can be distinguished from the cycloid by having a more or less secreted free edge. Several
spines are present on the surface of the posterior area of the scale. These scales are found in a large number of fishes with spiny fins.
All intermediate types between the cycloid and ctenoid scales are found on different parts of the body. Ctenoid scales are very common
in perciformes fishes (eg. Anabas, Gobius, Perca, etc.)

B. Chromatophores
o Colored pigments in bony fishes are mostly found in special cells called chromatophores. Fish change color by contracting and expanding
these pigments. The pattern of coloration relates to the life style of the fish and has functional significance.
 o Chromatophores are branched connective tissue cells located in the dermis either above or below the scales. Chromatophores contain
pigments of various kinds of pigment granules which may be carotenoids (yellow - red), melanin (black), flauines (yellow), purines (white or
silvery), pterins, porphyrins and bile pigments. Based upon the Colour of the pigments, the Chromatophores are of the following types.
1. Melanophores: The pigmentary material of chromatophore is black Coloured, called as ‘melanin’. It is formed from an amino acid
tyrosine, which is converted into melanin in the presence of copper containing enzymes tyrosine melanin, so formed, associates with
the cytoplasmic organ all called the ‘melanosome’. A brown in black pigment called ‘eumelanin is also sometimes found within the
melanophores.
2. Iridophores: The pigmentary material in these cells is guanine. Guanine is opaque, whitish or silvery. It is a waste product and is
deposited in the form of granules. These granules are opaque and possess great reflecting power, so that the iridocytes may also be
called the ‘mirror cells’. Tiny crystal of this pigment produce a white or silvery white apperance and against a background of
melanophores, impart a blue Colour to the fish.
3. Xanthrophores and erythrophores: The pigmentary material of these cells include carotenoid and pterins. They are in white, yellow,
orange or red Coloured pigments are abundantly found in plants and the fishes being incapable to synthesize them, hence to depend
upon the plants for a dietary supply of the pigmentary material. The cellular organelle containing pteridines are known as pterinosome
and the ultra microscope vesicles of cells containing carotenoid are called the carotenoid vesicles.
4. Mixed colorations in fishes: Color patterns of a majority of a fishes are due to the combined effects of chromatophores containing
different kinds of pigmentary granules. Thus the black and yellow Chromatophores, together develop green color. Likewise, yellow and
black and orange and blue may combine separately to rovide or brown appearance to the fish yellow mixed with black gives brown or
blackish colorations in fishes.
Some fish, such as the ghost glass catfish (Kryptopterus bicirrhis), lack pigmentation.
o Changing colors is due to the following adaptations:
1) Mood changes
2) Reproductive condition
3) Advertisement of danger (WARNING COLORATION) - use of color to advertise that they are dangerous, poisonous or taste bad
4) Blend with the environment to deceive predators or prey (CRYPTIC COLORATION)
5) Presence of color stripes, bars or spots that help break up the outline of a fish (DISRUPTIVE COLORATION)
6) Open water fishes and many shallow predators are rarely colourful, most of them are silver dorsally and white in the belly regions
to contrast light and dark surroundings (COUNTERSHADING) - Silver/white bellies blend with light coming from the surface and
dark backs blend into the ocean’s color as seen from above
7) Others tend to be dark in color or red usually for benthic species for concealment.

 Muscular System. Majority of the body parts of the fish is comprised by the muscles. Generally, the large muscles in the body and tail are
used for swimming. These muscles are divided vertically along the body length into sections called MYOMERES (MYOTOMES). These
myomeres are separated by septum (vertical) subdividng the right halved and the left halved. A horizontal septum divides the muscle halves
into upper halves (epaxial) and the lower halves (hypaxial) muscles.

o Fish have the same three basic types of muscles as other vertebrates: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac.
1. Skeletal: Voluntary, used for locomotion, comprises the majority of the fish’s muscle mass.
2. Smooth: Involuntary such as intestine, many organs, and the circulatory system.
3. Cardiac: Heart

Major Division of Skeletal Muscle

1. Red Muscle (Slow) –The high concentrations of red-oxygen binding pigments in blood (hemoglobin) and the muscles itself (myoglobin)
keeps this type of muscle color red. The high capilliary density ensures adequate supply of oxygen to sustain high levels of continuous
swimming.
2. White Muscle (fast) –Thicker than red muscles but have poorer blood supply. It converts glycogen to lactic acid via anaerobic pathways
and most useful for burst swimming.
3. Pink Muscle (intermediate) – used at swimming velocities too high for red muscles to sustain but too low for recruitment of white muscles
(carps)

o Bony Fish
⮚ The muscles of the tail and trunk consist of a series of muscle blocks called myotomes. The myotomes usually resemble a sideways letter
"W". A connective tissue called myosepta separates the myotomes. A horizontal septum separates the myotomes into dorsal (top) myotomes
and ventral (bottom) myotomes.
⮚ Jaw muscles usually consist of adductor muscles that close the jaw and abductor muscles that open the jaw. Adductor muscles – movement
towards the body; Abductor muscles – movement away from the body.
⮚ Fin muscles consist of abductor and adductor muscles that move the fins away from and close to the body, and erector muscles that provide
stability and flexibility in the fins.

o Elasmobranchs
⮚ Red muscle is aerobic: it needs oxygen to function. This muscle contains myoglobin, an oxygen-carrying pigment. Red muscle functions for
cruising.
 ⮚ White muscle is anaerobic: it does not need oxygen. White muscle functions for sudden bursts of speed.

Unit 4. Digestive system and nutrition in fishes

 Nutrition is an anabolic process. In a majority of animals, it is holozoic type. Animals are heterotrophs.
Holozoic nutrition – heterotrophic nutrition that is characterized by internalization (ingestion) and internal processing of gaseous, liquids or solid
food particles
 Holophytic nutrition – energy and organic building blocks are obtained through photosynthesis
Saprozoic nutrition – digestive enzymes are released externally and the resulting monomers are absorbed directly from the environment
 The process of nutrition includes ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation and egestion. To perform these activities, vertebrates have
developed a system known as Nutritive system or digestive system. Various food materials are converted into simple and soluble substances
which can be readily absorbed by blood and lymph. This mechanical and chemical break down of food is called digestion. Digestive system
consists of an alimentary canal and associated digestive glands. It is derived from the embryonic endoderm.
 Flow of food: Mouth – Pharnyx – Esophagus – Stomach – (Pyloric Caeca) – Intestine – Anus
Mouth
Pharynx and buccal cavity – not clearly marked off from each other. A number of perforations of gill slits are found on each side of the pharyngeal
wall. These at their openings into the pharynx are supported by gill rakers which assist in the process of ingestion. Pharynx however is largely a
structure for respiration than for digestion. Buccal cavity also consists teeth and tongue.
⮚ Cardiform – teeth that are numerous short, fine, and pointed common among catfish, seabass, and perches
⮚ Incisors – sharply cutting edge teeth common in Scaridae
Esophagus – These three parts: the pharynx, oesophagus and stomach are not clearly marked off from each other except histologically
Stomach - a structure meant for the storage and maceration of food material. Only when their internal linings contain the gastric glands it is
properly called a true stomach.
⮚ It is usually differentiated into a board anterior part, lying closer to the heart, and called cardiac stomach and into a posterior narrower part called
the pyloric stomach. The opening of latter into the mid-gut is usually guarded by a pyloric valve.
⮚ Stomach of teleosts presents a variety of different shapes. In some the entire gut appears as a tube of uniform diameter with no marked
differences between the oesophagus and stomach. In others it appears as a round and muscular structure placed at the end of oesophagus, and
possesses well-formed gastric glands. In a few others the stomach is distinguishable into a cardiac and a pyloric part and possesses a blind sac
of variable size, lying between the two.
⮚ Fishes belonging to family Cyprinidae and Catostornidae, lack a true stomach and the process of digestion is carried out in the intestine by the
pancreatic juice.
Intestine – The part of digestive tract following the stomach is called the intestine. It is divisible into two main parts, an anterior long but narrower
part called the small intestine lying immediately behind the stomach receives ducts from the liver and pancreas and called duodenum while the
rest of it is ileum.
⮚ The length of intestine however depends upon the feeding habits of the fishes. Carnivorous fishes have short, straight intestines. Fishes that eat
hard-to-digest plant material have coiled intestines, which may be much longer than the fish itself. Generally the intestine of the fish is shorter
and runs a relatively straight course. The short length is compensated by the development of scroll valve in some fishes. It appears along the
inner wall of intestine in the form of an elongated ridge and grows into the lumen.
⮚ Many fishes have pyloric caeca, lying immediately behind the pylorus valve. These are finger shaped pouches in small intestine that increase
surface area of the organ for digesting food
⮚ Sharks, sturgeon and lungfish – no small intestine, the digestive part of the gut forms a spiral intestine connecting the stomach to the rectum.
The spiral valve has a long surface area requiring food to circulate inside the short gut until fully digested. They also have a long finger like
diverticulum called rectal gland that secretes a highly concentrate solution of sodium chloride to rid off excess salts of blood
Anus – the gut ends with the anus, a small opening located at the posterior region of the body.
 Associated glands:
Liver – The paired hepatic ducts, one from each liver lobe join the cystic duct from the gall bladder to form a bile duct that opens behind into the
duodenum. Liver secretes bile which is responsible for breakdown of fats.
Pancreas – It comprises two histologically and functionally different components; an endocrinal portion that secretes hormones and an exocrinal
portion secreting the digestive pancreatic juice. Pancreas secretes two important hormone i.e. insulin and glucagon, insulin is secreted from β-
cells while glucagon is secreted by α- cells. Insulin reduces the blood sugar, whereas glucagon increases the blood sugar in fishes.
 Food and Feeding Habits
o Fishes consume a variety of different kinds of food. The food and feeding behaviour, therefore varies characteristically in different species of
fishes. Four categories of fish food:
1. Basic food: The basic food is the food which is preferred most by the fish. It is therefore included in large quantities in the diet of the fish.
2. Secondary food: Occasionally, however, fish consumes small quantities of food items that are liked next to the basic food. This food
constitutes the secondary food of the fish.
3. Incidental food: The articles which only rarely enters the digestive tract of the fish constitute the incidental food.
4. Obligatory food: The food which is consumed during unfavourable condition of non availability of the basic food comprises the obligatory food
of the fishes.
o On the basis of the character of the fish food, the fishes can be divided into following groups:
1. Plankton feeders: The fishes which feed upon the planktons, both on phyto and zooplankton. It is interesting to note that only a few adult
fishes live entirely on planktons. Peruvian anchovy ( Engrauls ringens) and the Atlantic menhaden (Brevo ortla) subsist largely on
phytoplanktons, are easy to feed upon than the zooplanktons. They are either filtered with the elaborate gill rakers or trapped in the mucus
produced by epibranchial glands. Zooplanktons rarely occur in sufficient density to permit this kind of filter feeding. Zooplankton feeders feed
them like the larval fishes by snapping up individual zooplankters.
2. Herbivorous fishes: These fishes feed upon the vegetation comprising flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves and pieces of stem of vascular plants
etc. They even scrap algae from the rocks and stones with their broad lipped mouth under the snout. The greatest diversity of herbivores
live in the sea and have varied kinds of feeding adaptations. Certain sturgeon fishes (Acanthuridae), rabbit fishes (Siganidae) and parrot
fishes (Scaridae) etc. browse and graze the algae growing over rocks, with the help of their closely set cupsed or serrated teeth. Parrot
fishes use their beak and rabbit fishes use the incisors set in their jaws to browse off hard surfaces.
3. Carnivorous fishes: These fishes feed upon the materials of animal origin such as the aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates like the molluscs,
crustaceans, fish fry, fingerlings and small fishes, etc. Thus the carnivorous often behave like predators.
4. Omnivorous fishes: These fishes consume food materials of both the animal and the vegetable origin.

o According to the extent of variation in the selection of food:

1. Monophagic fishes: Feed on a single type of food.
2. Stenophagic fishes: On certain selected kinds of food, and
3. Euryphagic fishes: Feed on a variety of different kinds of food.

o On the basis of trophic niche, which a fish occupies in a water body, they are grouped into following three types:
1. Surface feeders: These include fishes, which feed along the planktons floating of a water body eg. Catla catla, Hypothalamchthys molitrix.
2. Column or mid feeders: These include those fishes which feed along the longitudinal column of a water body eg. Labeo rohita.
3. Bottom feeders: These include the fishes feeding at the bottom of water. These fishes, along with the food also happen to take small
quantities of mud into their gut. eg. Cyprinus carpio, Cirrhina mirigala.

o According to the manner of capture and ingestion of food the fishes can be classified into following feeding types.
1. Grazers or Browsers: These fishes eat away their food either singly or by continual bites made in succession eg. blue gill ( Lepomis
inacrochirus) parrot fish (Scaridae), the butterfly fish (Chaetodontidae) and various bottom feeders.
2. Strainer: Certain fishes filter a great amount of water by their specially adapted gill rakers. Such device enable them to swallow a large
amount of food concentrate in comparatively little time eg. basking shark (Cetrohinus) and the whale shark (Rhincodon). Among the telosts
the strainers include Catla catla, Hilsa ilisha, Godusia chopra and Cirrhinus reba .
3. Parasites: Certain fishes derive their nutrition from other fishes and become variously adapted for such a parasitic life. The common
example of such fishes include the lampreys and hag fishes and the angler fish (Ceratles), sucker fish (Echeneis), etc.
4. Suckers: Most fishes suck the food contents into their buccal cavity, by enlarging their bucal and the opercular cavities. The common
examples are the golden orfe (Idusidus), the Anguilla anguilla, Carassius auratus, Tilapia mariae and Macropodus opercularis etc.

▪ Breakdown of macromolecules
o Digestion of Proteins

⮚ For carnivorous fish with stomach: pepsin enzyme secreted from gastric mucosa is a protease enzyme i.e. it can break down protein. HCI is
secreted by the gastric mucosa in carnivorous fishes creating the low pH. Both cholinergic and adrenergic nerves are present in the stomach
which stimulate the secretion of gastric juices. The trypsin enzyme is present in the extract of pancreas of some elasmobranchs. The trypsin is
secreted by exocrine pancreatic and secreted by hepatopancreas. The inactive form of this enzyme trypsinogen is known as zymogen. It is to be
converted into active enzyme i.e. trypsin by an enzyme enterokinase. The enterokinase enzyme is exclusively secreted by intestine of fish.
⮚ In the Cyprinids, stomachless fish, protease compensation is supplemented by some intestinal enzyme known collectively as erypsin. The
intestine secretes aminopeptidases. These act on terminal amino acid called as exopeptidases and those act on central bonds are called as
endopeptidases. Vitamins are essential constituent of the diet and a large number of vitamin deficient syndrome are noticed in fish

o Digestion of Carbohydrates

⮚ The enzymes which break down the carbohydrates in the gut of fishes are carbohydrases. They are amylase, lactase, saccharsases/sucrase
and cellulase. The most important enzyme is amalyse which acts on starch, which breakdown to maltose and then to glucose by the process of
digestion.
⮚ The amylase is secreted from the pancreas in carnivorous fishes but in herbivorous fishes, the presence of this enzyme is reported from the
whole gastrointestinal tract as well as from pancreas. In tilapia, the herbivorous, the amylase is present throughout the alimentary tract. The
starch is digested into glucose by amylase and maltase.
⮚ Blood glucose is converted with the aid of insulin, to muscle glycogen. Excess of glucose enters the blood from digestive tract, the surplus is
converted to glycogen in liver.
⮚ The fishes possess endocommensal bacteria containing an enzyme, the cellulase, which breakdown the cellulose plant material instead of
passing out through faeces.

o Digestion of Fat
 ⮚ The lipids are organic substances insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents like chloroform, ether and benzene. They form important
dietary constituents on account of high caloric value and the fat soluble vitamins and the essential fatty acids contained in them. The main
enzyme which act on this lipid is lipase. This enzyme is found in pancreas and mucosa of fishes. Lipase converts the fats into fatty acids and
glycerols.

o Absorption
⮚ Digestive end products are absorbed in to the blood.

Unit 5. Respiration in fishes

Respiration is a catabolic process in which the respired oxygen is used in the oxidation of food resulting in the release of energy. This energy is
utilized for all the vital activities. Carbohydrates are mainly concerned with release of energy. Oxygen required for this process is obtained from the
surrounding medium. Carbon dioxide formed in this process of respiration is expressed as follows.
On the basis of availability or non-availability of oxygen, respiration is differentiated into two kinds:
1. Aerobic respiration involves utilization of oxygen from the environment and liberation of energy into carbon dioxide. This type of respiration takes
place in most of the plants and animals. The organisms which exhibit this type of respiration are termed as aerobes.
2. In anaerobic respiration, glucose is metabolized to lactic acid, without the involvement of oxygen and there is no formation of carbon dioxide. This
type of respiration occurs in certain bacteria, parasitic animals etc. Such organisms are known as anaerobes. Life in the absence of oxygen is
called anaerobiasis.

The gaseous exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide taking place between blood and water (or air) through the medium of respiratory organs, is
called the external respiration to distinguish it from the internal respiration which refers to the essential transfer of gases between blood and tissues or
cells of the body and brings about release of energy.

The main respiratory organs in a fish are the gills. The lateral walls of the pharynx are perforated by means of a series of slit-like apertures, the first of
which is called the spiracle (in sharks), lying between the mandibular and the hyoid arches. The second or the hyoidean cleft lies between the hyoid
arch and the first branchial arch, while the rest of the gill slits are situated between the proceeding branchial arches. The anterior and the posterior wall
of each gill slit is raised in the form of vascular filamentous outgrowths to form the gills where exchange of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide takes
place. Besides the gills, other structures as the skin, air bladder and accessory organs also function as respiratory structures in some fishes.

Types of Gill
1. Holobranch
A complete gills or a holobranch consists of a gill arch supported by cartilage or bone. Each arch bears gill rakers towards the inner side, and
vascular plate-like filaments projecting towards the outside. Each row of these filaments forms a hemibranch or half gill. A holobranch carries two
hemibranchs. In elasmobranches, five pairs of branchial clefts are usually present (first is the spiracle), but only four pairs of gill slits are present
in the bony fishes, and the spiracle is also absent. Teleosts have a single external branchial apert you are on each side of the head due to the
development of an operculum covering the gills.

2. Pseudobranch
In many actinopterygians, a hyoidean pseudobranch consisting of a series of gill filaments is present anterior to the first gill, as in Catla catla. It
receives oxygenated blood directly from the dorsal aorta and has a vascular connection with the internal carotid artery. It may serve to increase
the oxygen concentration in the blood going to the brain and the eye through the internal carotid artery. The pseudobranch may also be useful in
the filling of gas bladder and in the regulation of intraocular pressure.

 Structure of a teleostean gill – four pairs of gills. Each gill has:

Gill rakers – project along the inner surface of the gill arch. Prevent food particles from entering the gill slits or may be specialized for filtering the
water in filter feeding fishes. Developed in various degrees and may be soft, thin, thread-like or hard, flat and triangular, or even teeth-like,
depending upon the food and feeding habits of the fish. The also has taste buds that help the fish in detecting the chemical nature of the water
flowing through the gill slits.
Gill arch – cartilaginous or bony structure which support the gills. Bears 2 rows of slender fleshy projections called gill filaments.
⮚ Each gill or branchial arch encloses an afferent and an efferent branchial vessel and nerves
⮚ Each gill arch bears two rows of gill filaments or primary gill lamellae.
Gill filaments or Primary gill lamellae – two pairs of gill filaments per gill arch - rich supply of capillaries, contains rows of thin plates or dishes
called secondary lamellae.
Secondary lamellae – increase the surface area through which gas exchange can take place. The more active the fish is in swimming, the greater
the number of lamellae.
⮚ The relative number and size of the gill lamellae determines the respiratory area of the gill in the fish. The total respiratory area varies with the
habits of the fishes generally, fast swimming fishes have more gill area and a larger number of gill lamellae per mm of gill filament, than the
sedentary species.
⮚ The efficiency of the gill as a respiratory organ is also depends on the diffusion distance i.e., the barrier through which exchange of gases takes
place between blood and water. The water breathing fishes have a higher diffusing capacity due to larger gill area and small diffusion distance,
than the air breathing fishes which have smaller gill area and a larger diffusion distance.
 Respiratory pathway and Non-respiratory or Nutritive pathway.
The respiratory pathway is associated with respiration. Blood is oxygenated in teleosts by rhythmical inhalation and exhalation of water through
the bucco-pharyngeal cavity. This is effected by suction of water into the cavity and its subsequent expulsion through the gill slits, during which
the water bathes the highly vascular gill Iamellae. The bucco-pharyngeal cavity therefore applies both suction and pressure to propel water
through the gills.
Cartilaginous fishes like sharks allow water in by opening the mouth, which is then closed. The rising of the floor of the mouth causes water to be
pumped through the gills and deoxygenated water goes out by way of the separate gill slits. The spiracle also allow water to move in.
Bony fishes are more efficient because of the presence of operculum, which close as the ppharynx expands, sucking the water in. The closing of
the mouth and opening of the opercula force water through the gills and out.
Fast swimming species may leave their mouth and opercular aperture widely open so that the gills are bathed by a continuous current of water
produced by swimming. In general, the gill cavities of fast swimmers are smaller than those of sedentary species.

o Afferent branchial vessel brings oxygen deficient blood into the gill
🡪 gill arch
🡪 primary gill
🡪 secondary gill lamella
🡪 break up into capillaries where exchange of gases takes place
🡪 countercurrent gas exchange
🡪 oxygen from the water irrigated through the gills is transferred to deoxygenated blood
🡪 oxygenated blood is collected by the efferent lamellar
🡪 primary efferent vessel of the primary gill lamella
🡪 efferent branchial vessel of the gill arch
🡪 to the body
Countercurrent gas exchange – diffusion of oxygen from sweater to blood is enhanced because the water that flows across the lamellae in the
opposite direction to that of the blood. The concentration of oxygen (indicated by dots) is always higher in the water than in the blood. If
circulation were not reversed, blood to the body would have less oxygen.
The non-respiratory pathway consists of a complex arrangement of sinuses and veins that carry the blood direct to the heart, by-passing the
systemic circulation. Its function is believed to provide nutrition and oxygen to the filament tissue, and may also be associated with the circulation
of hormones. This pathway cosists of the efferent filament artery, nutritive blood channel, central venous sinus, venules and the branchial veins.
 Other organs for Respiration – fishes that actually leaves the water and breathe air are called bimodal breathers. Air-breathing fish in aquatic
habitats often breathe synchronously, presumably to minimize individual by terrestrial predators. They have the following adaptive mechanisms
called aquatic surface respiration:
1. modification of the gills
labyrinth organ – suprabranchial accessory breathing organ that allows fish to take in oxygen directly from the air.
Clarias batrachus. The walking catfish have thickened, widely spaced lamellae on the dorsal side of the filaments and branched bulbus
dendritic structure dorsally emanating from the 2nd and 4th gill arches.
2. use of the skin
cutaneous respiration – gas exchange across the water at capillaries located throughout the body o Eels are the ones basically utilizing their
skin for respiration in addition to their gills. By diffusion through a well-vascularized skin and to a lesser extent across the gills, they are able
to use atmospheric air for respiration
3. Mouth
Electric eels (Electrophorous electricus) in contrast to “true eels”, are among the obligate “air breathers”. It has a well-vascularized area in
the buccal cavity where most of its required oxygen is taken up. The buccal cavity has a large surface area from surface convolutions and
pappilae, thus, the gills have generated over evolutionary time. Anabas has also modified its mouth parts for aerial respiration
⮚ Obligate air breathers – must rise to the surface every 10 minutes or so to inhale before returning to the bottom, ~80% of oxygen is
obtained this way
⮚ Facultative air breathers – optional – use air breathing to supplement aquatic respiration
4. Gut
Asian catfish as in Haplosternum, Anicistrus and Plecostomus have parts of their gut specialized for oxygen uptake by actually swaloowing
air. While oxygen is taken by way of gut, carbon dioxide is released in the gills
5. True lungs
Lungfish (Dipnoi) of South America and Africa are obligate air breathers. They survive an extreme dry period by eastivation and take air
through a small vent made in the mud. They have well sacculated and heavily vascularized lungs (subdivided into air sacs maximizing
surface area for gas exchange). Carbon dioxide is released through a vestigial gill.
⮚ Eastivation or estivation – like hibernation but in dry conditions – become inactive and stop feeding in response to warm temperature
6. Swimbladders
o Bichir (Polyoterus), bowfin (Amia), gars (Lepisosteus) use swim bladders for gas exchange.
▪ Fish need energy to:
a. move
b. find food
c. reproduce
d. digest food
 e. maintain body and internal environment

 Energy stored in the food must be metabolically converted in order to power these various bodily functions. Oxygen along with organic substrate
is needed for all oxidative metabolic (aerobic) processes. In fairly available source of oxygen, aerobic metabolic pathways is 18 to 19 times
biochemically efficient than the anaerobic pathways
 When in extreme hypoxia (low available oxygen, environmental PO2, critical PO2) or burst swimming – some anaerobic metabolism) is likely to
occur. Many fish use glycolysis and accumulate hydrogen ion (become acidotic) and lactate. Goldfish convert the lactate to ethanol in red and
white muscles, presumably to minimize effect of the metabolic acidosis.
 The amount of oxygen which fish require for these processes over a given length of time is called as its oxygen-consumption uptake or rate which
is affected by several factors:
1. life stage
In general, fish eggs use very little oxygen until they hatch. Both oviparous fish eggs in the environment and viviparous fishes eggs in their
mothers show significantly increased oxygen consumption rates after hatching.
Grunion eggs remain on the beach, fully out of the water during the first eight days after laying, buried in the sand throughout incubation
🡪 provides the developing embryos with plenty of oxygen and warmer temperature than the ocean. Exhibits delayed hatching until washed
out by incoming spring tide waves. If they do not reach the eggs location, the eggs viability remains intact until the next subsequent spring
tide waves come. The eggs shift to a more constant oxygen consumption rate, maintaining the embryos in an arrested developmental state.
2. body weight
Among juvenile and adult fishes, larger fish use more total oxygen/hr than smaller fish do because of the greater total metabolic demands of
more tissue mass.
3. level of activity
Swimming fish use more oxygen than resting ones because extra metabolic demands of exercising red swimming muscles.
4. environmental temperature
In waters with adequate dissolved oxygen, fish in warmer water generally have higher oxygen consumption rates than those in cooler
waters, because warmer temperature typically increase the cellular nutrient and oxygen (metabolic) demands of ectotherm organisms.
5. feeding
Oxygen consumption rates increased 41% to 48% to 130% over resting rates after feeding in Pacific cod and juvenile northern pike,
respectively. This extra energy (usually termed as specific dynamic action of SDA) is needed for digestion and growth.
 The apparatus generally used to measure fish oxygen consumption is called a respirometer. Sealed and open (flow-through) respirometers may
be used to measure routine, active and with special precautions – standard or resting metabolic rates of fishes. The scope for activity is the
difference between the standard metabolic rates and the active metabolic rate, a useful index in determining the relative amount of the non-
maintenance energy reserves of the fish.
 Fish with more reserved energy are better able to:
a. move
b. grow
c. reproduce
d. resist diseases and parasitism.

Unit 6. Blood and its circulation

 The blood is circulated throughout the body by cardiovascular (circulatory) system. It is circulated chiefly due to the contraction of heart muscles.
The blood performs several function:

1. Respiration: An essential function is the transport of oxygen from dissolved water from the gills (respiratory modifications) to the tissue and
carbon dioxide from the tissue to the gills.
2. Nutritive: It carries nutrient material, glucose amino acids and fatty acids, vitamin, electrolytes and trace elements from alimentary canal to
the tissue.
3. Excretory: It carries waste materials, the products of metabolism such as urea, uric acid, creatine etc. away from cell. Trimethylamine oxide
(TMAO) is present in all fishes. It is in high concentration in marine elasmobranches. Creatine is an amino acid which is the end ‘product of
metabolism of glycine, arginine, methionine whereas creatine is formed spontaneous cyclisation of creatine. Its level in plasma is 10-80 gm
and is excreted by kidney.
4. Hemostasis of water and electrolyte concentration: The exchange of electrolyte and other molecules and their turn over is the function of
blood. Blood glucose levels are often cited is being a sensitive physiological indicator of stress in fish and there is no unanimity about the
blood glucose levels amongst fishes.
5. Hormones and humoral agents contain regulatory agent such as hormones and also contains cellular or humoral agent (antibodies). The
concentration of various substances in the blood is regulated through-feedback loops that sense changes in concentration and triggers the
synthesis of hormones and enzymes which initiate the synthesis of substances needed in various organs.
 Delivery rates for oxygen are changed via temperature and pH-influenced hemoglobin-oxygen dynamics and the output of the heart, which is
regulated by an elegant array of aneural and neural controls. 1. Aneural cardio-vascular control is exercised by changes in blood volume, by direct
responses of heart muscles to changes in temperature, and by secretions of various glands. Temperature acts as aneural regulator of circulation
by direct action on the pace makers in the myocardium. In some species, rise in temperature causes increase in heart beat resulting in higher
 cardiac output. This increase in blood flow provides higher delivery of oxygen throughout the body, which is operating of a higher metabolic rate
in the warm water. Aneural control is also effected by the secretion of certain hormones. Thus, epinephrine stimulates heart rate, and
experiments have shown that the level of circulating epinephrine and nor-epinerphrine rises with exercise in rainbow trout. 2. Neural control is
effected though the tenth cranial nerve. The heart of all fishes are innervated by a branch of the vagus. Stimulation of vagus slows the heart rate
in elasmobranchs and teleosts. Various stimuli as the light flashes, sudden improvements of object, touch or mechanical vibrations usually cause
a decrease in heart rate. In fishes a built-incapacity for circulatory adjustments in response to environmental or other changes
 The blood of fishes is similar to that of any other vertebrates. Blood volumes constituting the primary circulation usually range from 3% to 7% of
the total body weight of bony fishes, 4% to 8% of elasmobranchs, and 8% to 20% of agnatha. It consists of blood cells suspended in plasma.
1. Plasma is liquid portion and consists of water. It acts as the solvent for a variety of solutes including proteins, dissolved gases, electrolytes,
nutrients, waste material and regulatory substances. Lymph is the part of plasma that perfuses out of the capillaries to bathe the tissue. It
also contains cellular components particularly more lymphocytes.
2. Cellular components are red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC) and thrombocytes.
A. Erythrocytes (Red blood cells, RBC) – most abundant cells in fish blood. They contain hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying pigment of the
blood) and carry oxygen from the gills to the tissues. They are generally nucleated and show a wide range of sizes among different
species. Elasmobranchs typically have larger RBCs, although fewer in number, than teleosts.
⮚ The smaller cell size in active species presents a shorter mean diffusion distance and a greater overall surface area for essential
respiratory gases such as oxygen. Shorter diffusion distances and more erythrocytes having a greater overall area would increase the
efficiency of oxygen uptake at the gills and its delivery to the oxygen-requiring swimming muscles.
B. Leukocytes (white blood cells, WBC) – provide a mechanism for blood clotting and help rid the body of foreign material, including
invading pathogens via immune system and other responses. Principal types of WBC:
⮚ Lymphocytes - produced by thymus, spleen and kidney, although specific antigen responses may differ among cells produced by each
organ. They act as the executive cells of immune mechanisms via antibody production. Fish lymphocytes may also demonstrate
phagocytic activity (engulfing foreign cells) or give rise to cells (e.g. macrophages) that have this ability.
⮚ Thrombocytes – this type of WBCs of fish are functioned in clotting of circulating fluids.
⮚ Monocytes/macropages – three basic types: eosinophils, basophils, and neutrophils. Neutrophils apparently migrate to sites of
bacterial infection, where they may be phagocytic or otherwise bactericidal. Basophil and eosinophil functions seem related to antigen
sensitivity, stress phenomena, and phagocytosis.
⮚ Nonspecific Cytotoxic Cells – are considered to be the equivalent of mammalian natural killer cells. They are capable of lysing
(breaking) a wide variety of tumor cells and fish protozoan parasites.
 Blood-forming sites in Different Fishes
o Both erythrocytes and leukocytes are formed from hemocytoblast precursor cells that originate from a variety of organs and usually mature after
they enter the bloodstream
1. Hagfish – the primary blood-forming site is the mesodermal envelope surrounding the gut.
2. Adult lamprey – synthesize blood cells from the fatty tissue dorsal to the nerve cord.
3. Elasmobranchs – produce blood cells from the Leydig organ (situated in the esophagus), the epigonal organ (around the gonads), and the
spleen.
4. Teleosts – hemopoietic (blood-forming) sites are primarily the kidney and spleen. Other sites of blood formation in Teleosts:
a. Lymphomyeloid – leukocyte-producing tissue
b. Thymus – constitutes another WBC-producing tissue in the juvenile stages of many jawed fishes.
 Hemoglobin is a respiratory pigment that vastly increases blood oxygen carrying capacity. It is not just a single type of molecule but really a class
of structurally similar molecules that vary in their structure and in their affinity for oxygen under different conditions:
1. Monomeric hemoglobin – it is consist of single-heme polypeptide molecules, each with a molecular weight of about 17,000 Daltons. They
are characteristic of lampreys and hagfish.
2. Tetrametric hemoglobins – they are composed of four chains of amino acids (2 αchains and 2 βchains), much like mammalian hemoglobin,
and have molecular weights of approximately 65,000 Daltons.
o Blood oxygen affinity (ability of haemoglobin to bind oxygen) varies widely among fishes reflecting the environments in which they live. Oxidized
(rather than oxygenated) hemoglobin, which cannot function as a respiratory pigment, is termed methemoglobin (MetHb) and may occur in
significant quantities in fish blood.
o Factors Affecting Blood Oxygen Affinity
a. pH
b. partial pressure of carbon dioxide
c. temperature
d. organic phosphate
 The circulatory system of fishes consists of veins that carry deoxygenated blood (in blue) from the body, a two-chambered heart that pumps
blood to the gills for oxygenation and arteries that carry oxygenated blood (in red) to the rest of the body.
 Body capillaries (deoxygenated blood)
🡪 veins
🡪 heart (sinus venosus – sinoatrial valve – atrium – atrioventricular valve – ventricle – conal valve – conus arteriosus in shark/ bolbus arteriosus in
teleost)
🡪 gills (blood is oxygenated)
🡪 body
 Heart – is two chambered and situated immediately behind the gills but in teleosts, it is relatively anteriorly placed than in the elasmobranchs.
Four Chambers of the Heart:
1. Sinus venosus– functions as a manifold. Venous blood from the liver and the ducts of Cuvier are collected in this relatively thin-walled
chamber.
2. Atrium – from the sinus venosus the blood is directed to this chamber, in many species through a sinoatrial valve. The atrium provides the
first significant circulatory acceleration of the blood. Biphasic filling implies that blood starts to fill the ventricle during ventricular diastole and
continues to fill immediately after atrial systole.
3. Ventricle – it is a relatively large chamber featuring heavy walls of cardiac muscle. The heavy muscle and efficient geometry of the ventricle
provide the main propulsive force for circulatory flow.
4. Conus arteriosus (in elasmobranchs, lampreys, hagfish, and hoosteans)/ Bolbus arteriosus (in teleosts) – it functions as an electric chamber
to dampen the pulses of pressure and intermittent flow from the ventricle into amore continuous flow to the ventral aorta and the gills. The
conal valves ensure that the significant reverse flow of the blood back into the heart does not occur.
 Arteries and veins
o Dorsal aorta – main route of transport of oxygenated blood from the gills to the rest of the body
o Posterior cardinal vein – large vein, runs posteriorly on the right side of the body, and receives the following branches:
1. Caudal vein – blood from caudal, anal and dorsal fins and adjacent muscles
2. Rectal vein – blood from kidney
3. Renal veins – blood from kidney tissues
4. Parietal veins – blood from abdominal integument

Unit 7. Excretion and Osmoregulation

 Various body parts which are concerned with the removal of metabolic wastes are included in the excretory system. Elimination of nitrogenous
waste products from the body is a process called excretion. The excretory products are formed during the amino acid catabolism. The amino
group (NH3) is separated from the amino acid through the process of deamination. These excretory products are harmful to the body, if they are
accumulated.
1. Aquatic animals, which have no problem of water, excrete ammonia predominantly. They are called ammnotelic forms. eg: crustaceans.
polychaetes, teleosts, tadpoles of amphibia etc.
2. Some animals live partly in water and partly on land. In such forms the toxic ammonia is changed into less toxic ammonia is changed into
less toxic urea in liver. Urea can be retained in the body for much longer period than ammonia. The animals which excrete urea as the chief
excretory product are known as ureotelic forms. eg: elasmobranchs. amphibians and mammals.
3. Terrestrial animals which have scarcity of water cannot afford to lose water from their body. In such forms nitrogenous waste is converted
into still less toxic substance called uric acid. It is excreted in crystalline form. The animals which excrete uric acid as the chief excretory
product are known as uricotelic forms. eg: Insects, gastropods, Lizards, snakes and birds. The excretory and reproductive organs are closely
associated with each other in fish and these systems are together called urino-genital system. The excretory and genital systems work
independently.
 The functions of excretion and osmoregulation are closely related and are performed by gills and kidneys in fishes. Although the gills are chiefly
the respiratory organs, they are also important as excretory and osmoregulatory organs.
 Kidneys play the most important part in the excretion of nitrogenous wastes and in maintaining the water salt balance (homeostasis). The kidneys
are paired, elongated structures placed above the alimentary canal and are close to the vertebral column. The teleostean kidney is generally
divided into two portions, the head kidney (anterior) and the trunk kidney (posterior), but in many species these regions cannot be distinguished
by external examination.
The head kidney is composed of hematopoietic tissue with endocrine glands and this is where development of blood occurs (devoid of renal
corpuscles and the tubules). The posterior truck kidney is the part with excretory functions. In between the anterior and anterior part is the
Corpuscles of Stannius which like the anterior kidney has an endocrine function.
o Functional unit of kidney is the nephron. It is made up of:
a. Renal corpuscle (Malpighian body) – includes Bowman’ capsule and glomerulus that act as ultrafilters where the blood is filtered under high
pressure. Na++ and Cl- are almost completely reabsorbed from the ultrafiltrate. Glucose is also largely removed from the filtrate.
b. Renal tubule – The excretory fluid flows through the renal tubule.
o The kidney of fresh water fishes may also serve as an important excretory organ for minor nitrogenous compounds such as creatine and uric
acid, but gills are the principal organs through which NH 3 and urea (major nitrogenous waste products) are removed from the body.
o In marine fishes, the kidney takes up function of removing magnesium and sulphate which enter the intestine of the specific fish along with sea
water. Other ions like Na++ , C1- , K+ and Ca++ are also removed.
o Urine flow is much greater in fresh water teleosts than in the marine. The process of filtration and reabsorption are under the control of various
hormones.
 Due to various physiological processes, metabolic wastes are removed from the body’ in vertebrates by gut, skin, and kidneys. But in fishes and
aquatic animals their gills and oral membranes are permeable both to water and salts in marine environment salt is more in water against the salt
inside the body fluid hence water moves out due to the process of osmosis’.
‘Osmosis’ may be defined as “if two solutions of different concentrations are separated by a semipermeable membrane, the solvent from the less
concentrated part will move through the membrane into more concentrated solution”
 Osmoregulation may be defined as the ability to maintain a suitable internal environment in the face of osmotic stress. Osmoregulators are those
animals who can maintain the internal osmolarity different from the medium in which they live. The fishes are generally true osmoregulators
maintaining the concentrations of body fluid. In these fishes which migrate between fresh and salt waters, the changing osmotic stress due to
environmental changes is overcome with the help of endocrine mechanism.
 Fish can be divided into four groups according to their strategies of regulation of internal water and total solute concentrations as presented
below.
1. No regulation at all – osmoconformers are those animals who are unable to control osmotic state of their body fluids but confirms to the
osmolarity of the ambient medium. This is characterized by hagfish which are strictly marine and stenohaline. Their total salt concentration in
their body is very similar to that of seawater.
2. Ability of Elasmobranchs (including Coelacanths) – in seawater, their body contains more water than the environment which has higher
salts. To prevent dehydration, they have the following strategies: they concentrate urea, absorb seawater through their gills and skin, and
excrete excess salts by way of the urine and feces. A special gland, the rectal gland, also excretes excess salts. Their blood ends up with a
solute concentration almost equal to or even higher than that of seawater.
3. Possessed by marine teleosts – The concentration of internal salt in marine teleosts is only one third that of their environment and it
operates hyposmotically (meaning that the concentration of solutes in their body is less than the environment and the water content is more
than the environment)
🡪 thus the tendency is that marine teleosts tend to lose water (prone to shrinkage) continually by diffusion to the more saline environment
(since water diffuses from an area of high concentration – inside the body of the animal- to an area of low concentration- seawater). To
counteract this, marine teleosts replaces water by literally drinking (ingesting) water. Although this results in large intake of salts, special
chloride cells in the gill filament and opercular skin in the epithelia eliminate much of the excess salt via active transport.
4. Possessed by freshwater teleosts and some elasmobranchs and they operate hyperosmotically (meaning that the concentration of solutes in
their body is higher than the environment and the water content is less than the environment). And because internal environment is more
concentrated they continually gain water (prone to swelling) by diffusion (since water diffuses from an area of high concentration –
freshwater- to an area of low concentration- inside the body of the animal). To compensate, water is excreted by well-developed kidneys.
PROLACTIN, in the blood reduces loses of salts and intake are through food and active transport through the chloride cells.

 Factors affecting obligatory exchanges

1. Gradient between the extracellular compartment and the environment – The greater the ionic difference between the body fluid and external
medium, the greater the tendency for net diffusion to low concentrations. Thus, a bony fish in sea water is affected by the problem of losing
water into the hypertonic sea water.
2. Surface/volume ratio – Generally the animal with small body size desiccates (or) hydrates more rapidly than a larger animal of the same
shape.
3. Permeability of the gills – Fish gills are necessarily permeable to water and solutes as they are the main site of exchange of oxygen and
carbon dioxide between the blood and the water. Active transport of salts also takes place in the gills. Euryhaline fishes (who have tolerance
of wide range of osmolarity) are well adapted to salt water by reduced permeability to water.
4. Feeding – Fishes take water and solute along with the feeding. A gill takes high quantity of salt than water at the time of feeding on seashore
invertebrates, these fishes therefore must have some special device to excrete excess of salt However a fresh water fish ingest large
amount of water than salt and thus needs special means of salt conservation.

Unit 8. Buoyancy and Thermal Regulation

 Neutral buoyancy (weightlessness) allows fish to minimize the energy cost of staying at a particular depth to feed, hide, reproduce, or migrate.
Various ways of achieving neutral buoyancy have evolved among fishes. Essentially four strategies are recognizable:
1. incorporation of large quantities of low-density compounds in the body
The use of low-density compounds to reduce the overall density of the body is characteristic of most sharks and a few teleosts. In many
sharks large quantities of lipids (specific gravity: 0.90-0.92) and the hydrocarbon squalene (specific gravity: 0.86), found especially in large
livers, bring the total body mass toward neutral buoyancy in seawater (sp.gr.: 1.026).
Among teleosts, only a few marine species such as sablefish (Anoplopomatidae), pelagic medusa fishes (Stromateidae), and shallow-water
rockfish (Scorpaenidae) use low-density (triglycerise) oils to lessen negative buoyancy. The oils are found mainly in the bones.
2. generation of lift by appropriately shaped and angled fins and body surfaces during movement
o The characteristic heterocercal tail of sharks along with the positive angles of attack of the leading edges of the pectoral fins and the
surface of the head provide additional lift while swimming. Hydrodynamic drag is minimized in the more pelagic sharks, which have relatively
smaller fins and larger, fatty livers.
3. reduction of heavy tissues such as bone and muscle
Fish of deep (more than 1000 m) oceanic midwaters characteristically have reduced skeletal and muscular tissues. Food is scarce in these
environments, and tissues that are energetically expensive to maintain-such as swimbladders-and compounds that are expensive to
synthesize such as body lipids-are usually reduced or absent.
The cartilaginous skeleton (sp.gr. = 1.1) of elasmobranchs and some bony fish is partly an adaptation to decrease body density. Bone has a
specific gravity of 2.0.
4. incorporation of a swimbladder as a low-density, gas-filled space
 Swimbladders allow precise control of buoyancy because the volume of gas they contain can be regulated with comparative ease. Because
of the increase in density of seawater, fish are more buoyant in it than in fresh water. Hence, with typical teleostean skeletal and body
composition, swimbladders occupy about 5% of the marine teleost’s body volume and about 7% of the freshwater forms.
Weberian apparatus – chain of small bones developed in connection with the modified anterior vertebrae and connecting the air-bladder with
the ear vs Ostariophysii fishes – no connection of inner ear and air bladder

o Types of Swimbladders:
1. Physostomous
⮚ Physostomous swimbladders have a connection (pneumatic duct) between the swimbladder and the gut. Physostomous swimbladders
include many of the more ancestral, soft-rayed teleosts, including herrings, salmonids, osteoglossids, mormyrids, pikes, cyprinids,
characins, catfishes, and eels.
⮚ Physostomous fish inflate their swimbladders by engulping air at the water’s surface and forcing it through the pneumatic duct into the
swimbladder by buccal force mechanism. Physostomes are largely shallow-water forms. Additional swimbladder inflation is needed for
neutral buoyancy at greater depths.
⮚ Deflation of the physostomous swimbladder is accomplished by a reflex action, the gas puckreflex (gas-spitting reflex), which is
initiated when reduced external pressure makes the fish too light, releasing gas via the pneumatic duct into the esophagus. Pneumatic
sphincter muscles (both smooth and striated muscle tissue), under nervous control, guard the entrance to the pneumatic duct. The
importance of gas diffusion mechanisms for physostome swimbladder inflation or deflation is probably minimal.
2. Physoclistous
⮚ Fish with “closed” swimbladders have special structures associated with the circulatory system for inflating or deflating the
swimbladder. Presumably because these fish do not need to go to the surface to inflate swimbladders, over two-thirds of all teleosts
(especially the more derived, spiny-rayed species) are physoclistous.
⮚ This involves special structure associated with the circulatory system. They must diffuse gas from the blood to fill and collapse swim
bladders. A GAS GLAND and RETE MIRABILE (meaning WONDERFUL NET) are the sources of the inflation of gas. RETE MIRABILE
is a tight bundle of thousands of afferent (running toward) and efferent (running from) capillaries surrounding each other.
⮚ In order to introduce gas (oxygen) into the bladder, the gas gland excretes lactic acid and produces CO 2. The resulting acidity (since
water + CO2 = carbonic acid) causes the haemoglobin of the blood to lose its oxygen (termed Root effect) which then diffuses to the
swim bladder.
⮚ With rete mirabile, it also involves gas diffusion. However, the diffused gas is due to the different direction of blood in the capillaries (in
the picture: see O2 rich blood going to the right O2 poor blood going to the left). The rete mirabile provides an efficient counter current
exchange of HCO3-, H+, lactate ions. These diffusive movements result to an elevated gas partial pressure and solute concentration in
the efferent blood (venous capillary - outgoing). The high buildup of gas and solutes in afferent (arterial capillary - incoming) capillaries
multiplies the gas secretion function of the gas glands. The deflation of the swimbladder is accomplished by diffusion of gas back into
the blood streams, where more soluble gasses such as carbon dioxide and oxygen are preferentially absorbed.
 The gas-secreting structure of swimbladders found in derived teleosts and the heat-exchange organs found in some large, active, oceanic fish
are morphologically very similar. Both involve exchanges, of gas or heat, across blood vessel walls in a countercurrent (opposite direction)
exchange network.
 Thermal regulation in fish: Most fish, as cold blooded (ectotherms) have body temperature close to that of their environment because of the
metabolic heat loses via the skin or the gills. The low rate of metabolic heat production and the high heat capacity of water result in continuous
heat losses.
 Behavioral Thermoregulation – this concerns the movements of fish from the water mass or an area to another characterized by a warmer or
cooler temperature. Because metabolism and digestion is affected by temperature, some fish selects a particular water mass with specific
temperature that suits them best. This is to conserve energy or to run their metabolic machinery at its most efficient temperature
 If there is no thermal regulation fish might freeze in the deep waters. For tuna, their body temperature is far warmer than the environment because
they need enough energy to accomplish high activity levels and thus needed high temperatures to maintain high metabolic rate.
o Physiological Thermoregulation – exhibited only by several continuous swimming species:
1. RETIA MIRABILLA to conserve heat produced by metabolism. RETIA MIRABILLA is similar to rete mirabile only that these structures are
found in the muscle layers all throughout the body. The arrangement and the mechanism is almost similar only that instead of gases it is
heat that is diffused.
2. Placement of major arteries and veins for blood transport between the heart and gills and the heat exchanger which are located close to the
skin, enabling the transport of cool blood to and from the heat exchanger without absorbing much of the heat produced by swimming
muscles. Although hemoglobin affinity to oxygen is decreasing with increasing temperature, this is counteracted by the reverse effect of a
special hemoglobin which increases oxygen affinity at higher temperature between 10-30°C and carbon dioxide affinity with cooling
minimizing oxygen losses to the venous blood.

Unit 9. Integration in Fishes – Nervous and Endocrine system

 Changes occur in the environment. Organisms detect such changes through receptor organs and convey the message to specialized tissues for
necessary adjustments.
 In higher animals the activities are coordinated by the nervous system. Nervous system regulates and controls the activities of different organs
present in the body such as muscle contraction, glandular secretion, heartbeat etc. It connects various system of the body and coordinates all
 their activities and ensures the integrity of the organism. The stimuli are received by the nervous system through sense organs. Thus, the
nervous system is responsible for receiving and responding various activities. Various organs of the body and activities of the organism are
controlled and coordinated by the nervous system.

Divisions of the Nervous System

1. Central nervous system

A. Brain
a. Forebrain
1) Telencephalon – concerned with the reception and conduction of smell: a pair of solid olfactory lobes and two large cerebral
hemispheres
2) Diencephalon – contains optic lobe and hypothalamus - influences the endocrine system of the fish through the pituitary gland
b. Midbrain - mesencephalon – contains optic tectum: reception and elaboration of the visual sensations (sight) and correlates them with
the muscular responses of the animal
c. Hindbrain
1) Metencephalon – consists of cerebellum
2) Myelencephalon or medulla oblongata

B. Spinal cord – uniform in structure throughout its length and extends for the whole length of the body
2. Peripheral nervous system – consists of spinal (originate from spinal cord) and cranial nerves (arise from the brain and ten pairs of them are
typically present in a teleost).
3. Autonomous nervous system

 Various systems present in the body of animals are coordinated by nervous and endocrine systems. Hence, these two systems together called
integrated system.
 Animals contain two types of glands, namely exocrine glands and endocrine glands. Exocrine glands have ducts to carry their secretion. The
endocrine glands have no ducts to carry their secretions. Hence, the endocrine glands are also called ductless glands. The study of endocrine
glands is called endocrinology.
 Endocrine system usually controls long-term activities of target organs and also physiological processes such as digestion, metabolism, growth,
development, reproduction etc. Endocrine system includes certain glands known as endocrine glands, which are distributed in various regions of
the body of fish.
 The components of endocrine system can be classified on the basis of their organization, which is as follows:
1. Discrete endocrine glands : These include pituitary (hypophysis), thyroid and pineal
2. Organs containing both endocrine and exocrine function . In fishes, it is kidney gonads and intestine. Kidney contains heterotophic thyroid
follicles, interrenal, and corpuscles of Stannius.
3. Scattered cells with endocrine function: They are known as diffused neuroendocrines. They are present in digestive tract. They are generally
called as paracrines (eg. Somatostatin). There are gastrointestinal peptides whose definite classification as hormone or paracrine agent has
not yet been established, these are designated as putative hormones.
 The endocrine gland produce their secretions called hormones. Hormones are also important regulating substances which control almost every
aspect of the metabolism in living cells. Properties of hormones:
1. They are liberated into the blood stream, which carries it to some part of the body where it produces a definite physiological effect.
2. The effect of hormones may be excitatory or inhibitory in its action.
3. Hormones act specifically on certain organs. Such organs are referred to as target organs. Thus, the hormones act as chemical
messengers.
4. The hormones do not participate in biochemical reactions and hence they are also called autonomes or autocoids. Hormones maintain
internal environmental factors of the body like temperature regulation, water and ion balance, blood glucose level etc. such maintenance is
known as homeostasis.
5. Hormones have no cumulative effect. After performing their function, they get destroyed or inactivated or excreted.
6. They are soluble in water. They also act as catalysts.
 Hormones are classified into four types:
1. Protein or Peptide hormones: These hormones are made up of proteins or peptides. Ex: Hormones of pituitary, parathyroid, pancreas, and
hypothalamus
2. Steroid hormones: These hormones are made up of steroids. Ex: Hormones produced by adrenal cortex, ovaries and testes.
3. Amino acid derivatives or biogenic amines: These hormones are derived from amino acids. Ex: Melatonin and adrenalin of adrenal medulla.
4. lodinated amino acid: Iodine combines with amino acid and forms different iodinated hormones. Ex: Thyroxine.
 Hormones in fishes
I. Tropic Hormones – the pituitary hormones of fishes are of two types:
1. Regulates the function of other endocrine glands. Such hormones are called tropics or tropic hormones. These are:
a. Thyrotropin activates thyroid
b. Adrenocorticotropic hormones activate adrenal cortex
 c. The gonadotropins (FSH and LH) – In fishes there is only one functional gonadotropin is found, which is often regarded as piscian
pituitary gonadotropin (PPG). This single gonadotropin has similar properties of two hormones, LH and FSH of mammals.
d. Growth hormones-somatotropin –accelerates increase in the body length of fishes
2. Directly regulates the specific enzymatic reactions in the various body cells or tissues. These hormones are:
a. Melanin hormones (MH)
b. Melanophore stimulating hormone (MSH) or intermedin – acts antagonistically to melanin hormone. MSH expands the pigment in
the chromatophores thus take part in adjustment of background
3. Prolactin – It is a similar hormone that influences lactation in mammals
4. Oxytocin and vasopressin hormones – Vasopressin and antidiuretic (ADH) hormones are responsible for the constriction of blood
vessels in mammals and thus stimulates retention of water by their action in kidney. Oxytocin stimulates mammalian uterine muscles
and increases the discharge of milk from lactating mammal. In fishes this is control osmoregulation by maintaining water and salt
balance.
II. Thyroid Gland – Thyroid hormone is synthesized in the thyroid gland, for which inorganic iodine is extracted from the blood. Thyroid
hormones appear to be involved in carbohydrate metabolism in fish, as liver glycogen is low when this gland is active. Thyroid hormones
also play an important role in reproduction, osmoregulation and migration of fish.
III. Adrenal cortical tissue or interrenal tissue – secretes two hormones. These are
(i) mineral corticoids concerned with fish osmoregulation,
(ii) glucocorticoids, which regulate the carbohydrate metabolism, particularly blood sugar level.
IV. Chromaffin tissue or suprarenal bodies or medullar tissue – richly contains adrenaline and noradrenaline. Injection of adrenaline and
noradrenaline causes changes in blood pressure, bradycardia, branchial vasodilation, diuresis in glomerular teleosts and hyperventilation.
V. Ultimobranchial gland – The gland secretes the hormone calcitonin which regulates calcium metabolism. The ultimobranchial gland is under
the control of pituitary gland.
VI. Sex glands as endocrine organs – synthesized and secreted by specialized cells of the ovaries and testis. The release of sex hormones is
under the control of mesoadenohypophysis of pituitary. In fishes these sex hormones are necessary for maturation of gametes and in
addition of secondary sex characteristics such as breeding tubercies, colouration and the maturation of gonopod.
VII. Corpuscles of Stannius – reduce serum calcium level which have environment containing high calcium, such as seawater.
VIII. Intestinal mucosa – produces secretin and pancreozymin which are controlled by nervous system and regulate pancreatic secretion.
IX. Islets of Langerhans – consists of three kinds of cells
(i) The beta cells which secretes insulin and take aldehyde fuschin stain.
(ii) Another type of cells are alpha cells which produce glucagon. The function of the third type cells is not known. Insulin is secreted by beta
cells and regulate the blood sugar level in fishes.
X. Pineal organ –in spite of being a photoreceptor organ the pineal organ shows endocrine nature of doubtful function.
XI. Urophysis – present in the terminal part of spinal cord. It is an organ deposits, which releases materials produced in the neurosecretory cells
situated in the spinal cord.

 Sensory Reception
o Fish sense the world around them in diverse ways. While most fish have the “terrestrial” sense of sight, hearing, smell, and taste that we can
comprehend from our own experience, they also possess sensory means for detecting stimuli such as water particle displacement and electrical
currents. Such modes take advantage of the physical and chemical properties of water end work in conjunction with the more “conventional”
sensory modes.
1. Chemoreception – odors and tastes are quite distinguishable to the great majority of terrestrial animals; olfactory organs, stimulated by
airborne molecules, are more sensitive and chemical specific than gustatory organs, which are generally stimulated by contact with dilute
solutions. In fish, both types of organs have similar sensitivities to “contact” stimuli of chemicals dissolved in water, but are distinguishable by
the location of the sensory receptors as well as processing centers in the brain:
a. Olfaction – receptors are located in the olfactory pits which is connected to the nares, these are very important for locating spawning
streams. Sharks detect blood and other substances in concentrations as low as 1 ppm.
b. Taste – gustatory chemoreception is due to the sensors or taste receptors located not only in the mouth but also in the skin, fins, and
barbels. These are used in locating food.
2. Acoustico-Lateralis System – used for sound vibrations and even water displacement. Two main components include the inner ear and the
neuromast (lateral line system). Neuromast: mechano-sensory lateral line system::Kinocilium: auditory
a. Inner ear – this generally used for sound detection. However, a part of it called semi circular canals is used for spatial equilibrium and
balance of fish. Paired hearing organs located to the sides of the brain and by the swim bladder known to amplify sound by vibrating
and transmitting sound waves to the inner ear. Changes in position are detected by shifts in position of calcareous ear stones or otoliths
that rest on hairs of sensory cells.
⮚ Sagittae – most studied of the three pairs in determining age, there are three pairs of otoliths in each fish: 1 large pair (the sagittae)
and 2 small pairs (the lapilli and the asteriscii). In Pacific Salmon, the asteriscus and lapillus are very small, usually only about a
millimeter in size. The sagittae are much larger (about 5 mm).
⮚ Masking – mechanism which analyzes the various sound stimuli received and being able to ignore the other sound sources relative to
the sound perceived most
⮚ Cupula: structure in cochlea::Mauthner cells: giant nerve endings that connect auditory nerve to the brain – responsible for fast,
auditory reflex i.e. reaction when tapping aquarium
 b. Lateral line – provides distant touch sense and usually for detection of water displacement. Unique sense organs that enables them to
detect vibrations in the water. It consists of a system of small canals that run along the body – lined with sensory cells that are
sensitive to vibration
3. Electroreception – external pit organs are attached to the skin to detect minute electrical currents in water. In sharks it is called the Ampullae
of Lorenzini (detect weak electrical fields to help locate prey plus electromagnetic compass)
4. Vision and photoreception – The eye is the primary receptor site of light from its surroundings. The pineal organ is also sensitive to light and
appears to control circadian rhythmicity of fishes.
⮚ Bony fishes tend to rely on vision more than most cartilaginous fishes. Whereas the eyes of most land vertebrates focus by changing the
shape of the lens, the round lens of the fish eye focuses by moving closer or farther away from the subject – reason why fish eye bulge.
Sharks have nictitating membrane: drawn across the eye to reduce brightness and protect the eye during feeding

Unit 10. Reproduction in Fishes

 Reproduction is the process by which animals increase their population to continue their races in the nature. Reproductive system mainly
consists of reproductive organs known as gonads, (testes and ovary), the gamets (sperms, ova).
 Fishes reproduce by several methods and are generally bisexual. Some species are hermophrodite and even parthenogenetic reproduction
occurs in a few cases. Some fishes are highly specialised for breeding and show interesting development of parental care comparable with
higher animals. The sperms and the eggs develop in separate gonads except in some species of Sparidae and Serranidae, which are true
hermophrodites and the eggs and sperms, develop in the same gonad and self-fertilization takes place. However, hermophrodite gonads
sometimes occur in other species also. Parthenogenetic development takes place in Poecilia formosa, in which the sperms simply induce the egg
to develop, but take no part in fertilization.
 Semelparity and iteroparity are two classes of possible reproductive strategies available to living organisms. A species is considered
semelparous if it is characterized by a single reproductive episode before death, and iteroparous if it is characterized by multiple reproductive
cycles over the course of its lifetime.
 The characteristics of sexual difference or sexual dimorphism that enables identification of the sexes are classed as primary and secondary.
1. Primary sexual characters are concerned with reproductive organs, the testes in males and ovaries in females. The sexes of most fishes can
be easily distinguished by examination of the gonads at least during the spawning season. Both the testes and the ovaries of females are
typically paired structures that are suspended by mesenteries across the roof of the body cavity, in close association with the kidneys. For
bony fish, there is a separate opening for urine and another for gametes (urogenital opening).
o Gonads are composite organs, produces germ cells and gametes. Gametes start as primordial germ cells. Somatic cells: nourish,
physically support, regulate development of germ cells
a. sperm: start as spermatogonia producing 4 spermatozoa
b. eggs: start as oogonia, becomes surrounded by follicle, invested with yolk, then ovulation, freed from follicle, and hydration. One egg
produced per oogonium.
o Agnatha – single gonad, sperm and eggs shed into body cavity, expelled through pores
o Chondrichthyes – testes and ovaries paired but asymmetric, right bigger than left
a. Males:
a) Sperm shed into duct shared with kidney Leydig gland makes seminal fluid that pass out of body through claspers
b. Females
a) Eggs shed into coelom, go into funnel at head of oviduct.
b) After fertilization shell added to egg
c) Retention of young in uterus, or egg laying
o Osteichthyes
a. Testes
a) Primitive bony fishes: testis associated with kidney
b) Teleosts: duct from testes opens to outside
b. Ovaries
a) Lower bony fish: ovaries open into body cavity and eggs conveyed through funnel into oviduct
b) Teleosts: oviducts continuous with ovary covering
c) Many modifications associated with internal brooding of young
2. The primary sexual characters often require dissection for their discernment, which makes the secondary sexual characters often more
useful, although sometimes not so positive. Secondary sexual characters:
a. Color and difference in body structures
o In most of the teleosts, females are larger in size with enlarged rounded belly during the breeding season.
o A common secondary sexual character is the brighter colour of the body and fins in the male, as in the Cyprinodontidae, Cichlidae,
Labyrinthidae and Labridae. In a number of cyprinids, the male becomes much brighter in colour during the breeding season.
o The male Bow-fin (Amia) has a characteristic black spot at the base of the caudal fin.
o Some species show differences in the shape of their fins, and the rays may be prolonged to form long feelers in the male.
o In some catfishes of the family Loricaridae, the sexes differ in shape of their snout, mouth, lips, and in the development of bristles on
their head. In some flat fishes, first few fin rays of the dorsal fin, as well as some rays of the pelvics are prolonged to form lengthy
filaments in the male.
 o In the flat fish Bothus, males have spines on snout; eyes are much wider than in the females, and the rays of the pectoral fin on the
coloured side are generally elongated.
o In the male sword fish, Xiphophorus, the lower lobe of the caudal fin is drawn out to form a long blade-like structure.
o In another species, Mollenesia, the dorsal fin of the male is enlarged to form a sail-like structure, bearing brilliantly coloured ocelli.
o Some species possess structural peculiarities that are not connected with sexual union or fertilization, but are related with courtship,
or fight among rival males.
b. Structures that function in mating – Some species possess structural peculiarities directly related with fertilization of ova. These are in
the form of copulatory organ in the male for introducing the milt into the body of the female, as the claspers in sharks
c. Sperm delivery (intromittent organs)
o In Chondrichthyes the eggs are fertilized within the the body of the female, and the males are provided with claspers or myxopterygia
for transferring the sperms into the body of the female. Each clasper has an internal cartilaginous skeleton and a groove or canal runs
along its whole length, leading from a glandular sac at its base. During copulation the two grooves or canals close to each other, and
both the claspers are thrust into the cloacal aperture of the female.
o Among teleosts an intromittent copulatory organ is present only in those species in which the fertilization is internal. The simplest
condition is seen in Mystus seenghala in which a conical genital papilla is present and fertilization is external. In Cyprinodonts (e.g.,
Gambusia) the vas deference is produced into a tube up to the end of the anterior rays other anal fin. In the Poecifidae also, the males
are provided with complicated intromittent organ developed -from modified anal fin rays, ending in curved hooks, spines and barbs. The
male four-eyed fish, Anableps, is also provided with a special tube for copulation. In some marine Ophididae, a penis-like intromittent
organ is present in the male. In the male white sucker, Catostomus cominersoni, the enlarged anal fin serves to transfer the watery milt.
In clasping cyprinodont, Xenodexia, the pectoral fin is modified for use in mating by holding the gonopodium in position for insertion into
the oviduct or female.
 Behaviour/ migration
o Sleep – occurs when fish assumes a typical resting posture for a prolonged period uses some form of shelter and is relatively insensitive to
disturbance
⮚ Circadian rhythm – refers to persistent periodicity regulated by the biological clock that couples environmental and physiological rhythm
⮚ Photoperiod – one of the most dependable cues by which organisms time their activities in temperate zones is the day-length
⮚ Crepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight (that is, the periods of dawn and dusk). This is distinguished from diurnal
and nocturnal behavior, where an animal is active during the hours of daylight or the hours of darkness, respectively. The term matutinal is used
for animals that are active only before sunrise, and vespertine for those active only after sunset.
o A taxis, meaning 'arrangement' is the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light or the presence of food. Taxes are
innate behavioural responses. A taxis differs from a tropism (turning response, often growth towards or away from a stimulus) in that in the case
of taxis, the organism has motility and demonstrates guided movement towards or away from the stimulus source. It is sometimes distinguished
from a kinesis, a non-directional change in activity in response to a stimulus. Taxes are classified based on the type of stimulus, and on whether
the organism's response is to move towards or away from the stimulus. If the organism moves towards the stimulus the taxis is positive, while if it
moves away the taxis is negative.

Aerotaxis (stimulation by oxygen)

Anemotaxis (by wind)
Barotaxis (by pressure)
Chemotaxis (by chemicals)
Surtax’s (by stiffness)
Electrotaxis or galvanotaxis (by  electric current)
Gravitaxis (by gravity)
Hydrotaxis (by moisture)
Magnetotaxis (by magnetic field)
Phototaxis (by light)
Rheotaxis (by fluid flow)
Sosotaxis (by sound)
Thermotaxis (by changes in  temperature)
thigmotaxis (by physical contact)

o Contranatant – Descriptive of swimming or moving against the current of rivers or streams: the migrations of fishes vs denatant - swimming,
moving, or migrating with the current o Territoriality – some fishes defend territories only during reproduction, many however, have more or less
permanent territories that they use for feeding and resting or as a shelter
o Schooling – school: well-defined groups for protection against predation, for feeding or mating purposes, increases swimming efficiency of fish
because the fish in front form an eddy that reduced water resistance for those behind
o Migrations – regular mass movements from one place to another once a day, once a year or once in a lifetime:
⮚ Oceanodromy – migrations entirely in seawater
⮚ Potamodromy – migration entirely in freshwater
⮚ Diadromy – migration is either fresh or marine
  Anadromous fishes – live at sea, migrate to freshwater to breed. Example: salmon: after maturing sexually, they start to migrate to
freshwater. Exhibits homing behaviour wherein an animal find its way back to a home area, sometimes the exact stream of birth. After
hatching, salmon return to sea immediately. Issue: migration routes have been blocked by dams, spawning grounds filled with silt as a result
of logging and cattle grazing and rivers polluted by fertilizers and animal waste.
o Fluvial anadromous – anadromous fish that ascend streams with or without lakes.
o Lacustrine anadromous – anadromous fish that ascend only streams with lakes
o Quasi anadromous – migratory fish that leave the marine habitat ex: pink salmon
 Catadromous fishes – breed at sea and migrate into rivers to grow and mature. Example: Anguilla.
 Timing of reproduction is controlled by sex hormones. A few marine fishes are hermaphrodites. A variation of hermaphroditism among fishes is
sex reversal in which individuals change from one sex to another. o Courtship – first step in reproduction: series of behaviours that serves to
attract mates. Involve an exchange of active displays such as “dances”, special postures that display colors, and upside down swimming
 Mating is the actual release of gametes leading to the fertilization of eggs by sperm. It can involve copulation or internal fertilization (direct
transfer of sperm by males into the female) or spawning or external fertilization (release of gametes into the water). Broadcast spawners release
as many eggs as possible to ensure at least some hatch and make it into adulthood. Fishes that spawn fewer and larger eggs have evolved
ways to take care of them.
 Egg development:
1. Oviparous – embryo is enclosed by a large, leathery egg case that drops to the bottom after spawning. Eggs have a yolk sac attached to
embryo’s belly – pup is well-developed when it hatches. After one or more days of development, the eggs hatch into free-swimming larvae or
fry. When they first hatch, the larvae still carry the yolk in a yolk sac. The yolk is eventually consumed and the larvae begin feeding the
plankton
2. Ovoviviparous – female retains the eggs inside her reproductive tract for additional protection. Eggs develop inside the female who gives
birth to live young.
3. Viviparous – embryo absorb nutrients from the walls of the mother’s reproductive tract. Live bearers but nutrition for development before birth
is provided by direct contact with the reproductive tract if the female
 Proximate cues for determining timing of reproduction:
1. Predictive – periodic environmental events (such as changing day length, water temperature, or tidal strength) used to predict the
approaching spawning period and initiate migration
2. Synchronizing – act to ensure that adults are in the same state of reproductive readiness to optimize fertilization of eggs
3. Terminating – mark the end of the spawning period and may include changes in environmental condition, depletion or viability of gametes
4. Environmental or biological modifying factors – can cause intraspecific variation in the spawning behavior or timing at different latitudes or in
different habitats

Section 6. Vertebrates (phylum Chordata) – Marine Reptiles, Birds and Mammals

 Land dwelling vertebrates are called tetrapods “four footed”. Evolved lungs which are internal air sacs that allow absorption of oxygen. Had to
evolve ways to keep from drying out – first land tetrapods, the amphibians never solved this problem and must keep themselves moist and most
lay their eggs in water. Reptiles evolved from amphibians. Birds and mammals evolved from reptiles.
 Marine reptiles – ectotherms/ poikilotherms: their metabolic rate and activity level varies with temperature. Get sluggish when cold:

1. Sea turtles. Their bodies are enclosed by an armor-like shell, or carapace, that is fused to the backbone. o Unlike land tortoises and turtles,
sea turtles cannot retract their heads into the shell. o Their legs, particularly the larger forelimbs, are modified into flippers for swimming.
o All sea turtles must return to land to reproduce. They migrate long distances to lay their eggs on remote sandy beaches. Females return to
the beaches where they were born. The eggs hatch after about 60 days of incubation in the sand.
There are only seven species of sea turtles (though some biologists recognize eight), which live primarily in warm waters:
a. Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) - they grow up to 1.5 meters (5 ft) in Green turtles only venture onto land to lay their eggs. Females lay
eggs every 2-4 years once they are sexually mature. To reach their nesting grounds, green turtles migrate long distances, traveling
back to the beaches where they were born. After mating in the shallow waters near shore, female turtles climb onto the beach and lay
their eggs in a pit. They lay 100- 200 eggs at a time and leave them alone for 2 months (60 days) before they hatch. Once the baby
turtles hatch, they must crawl to the water and avoid a multitude of predators, including birds and crabs. The only herbivore among the
different species of sea turtles.
b. Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) – polished shell is source of valuable “tortoise shell” used to make jewelry - Hawksbills are
named for their narrow, pointed beak. They feed mainly on sponges by using their narrow pointed beaks to extract them from crevices
on the reef, but also eat sea anemones and jellyfish.
c. Olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea).
d. Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) – largest; Leatherback turtles are named for their shell, which is leather-like rather than hard, like
other turtles. They are the largest sea turtle species and also one of the most migratory, crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
e. Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) – named for their large heads that support powerful jaw muscles, allowing them to crush hard-
shelled prey like clams and sea urchins. They are less likely to be hunted for their meat or shell compared to other sea turtles
2. Sea snakes. Marine iguana (Amblyrhyncus cristatus) – spends most of its time basking in large groups on rocks along the coast, warming up
after swimming in cold water
3. Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) – inhabits mangrove swamps and estuaries
 4. Sea birds. Birds are homeotherms, commonly referred to as “warm-blooded.” They are also endotherms. This has allowed them to live in a
wide variety of environments.
Their bodies are covered with waterproof feathers that help conserve body heat. Waterproofing is provided by oil from a gland above the
base of the tail.
o Seabirds are birds that spend a significant part of their lives at sea and feed on marine organisms. Most breed in large colonies on land,
mate as lifelong pairs, and take care of their young.
o True seabirds have webbed feet for swimming.
a. Penguins – seabird most fully adapted for life at sea. Flightless, with wings modified into stubby “flippers” that allow them to “fly”
underwater. Their bones are denser than those of other birds to reduce buoyancy and make diving easier. Only 1 species, Galapagos
penguin, does not live in Antarctica and other cold regions of the southern hemisphere
b. Tubenoses – large group of seabirds with distinctive tube like nostrils and heavy beaks that are usually curved at the tip. Have salt
glands that get rid of excess salts – includes albatrosses, petrels
c. Pelicans – webbing between all four toes, have unique pouch below their large beaks where they place food, their excrements
accumulate as guano deposits which are mined for fertilizer
d. Gulls
e. Wading shorebirds – herons, egrets, ducks
 Marine mammals
⮚ Biology of marine mammals
1. Swimming and diving
o To avoid inhaling water, marine mammals take very quick breaths. Cetaceans have the advantage of having the blowhole on top of the
head. This allows them to breathe even though most of the body is under water.
o In the large whales, the moisture in their warm breath condenses when it hits the air. Together with a little mucus and seawater, this water
vapor forms the characteristic spout, or blow. The spout can be seen at great distances, and its height and angle can be used to identify the
whale
o Marine mammals are also better than other mammals at absorbing the oxygen from the air and storing it in their blood
🡪 more blood than non-diving mammals. Their blood also contains a higher concentration of erythrocytes, or red blood cells, and these cells
carry more haemoglobin Furthermore, their muscles are extra-rich in myoglobin, which means that the muscles themselves can store a lot
of oxygen
o Marine mammals have adaptations that reduce oxygen consumption in addition to increasing supply. When they dive, the heart rate slows
dramatically, an automatic reflex known as bradychardia. Blood flow to non-essential parts of the body, like the extremities and the intestine,
is reduced, but it is maintained to vital organs like the brain and heart.
o To avoid bends (decompression sickness – condition when N 2 at greater depth forms bubbles in the blood), their lungs actually collapse.
They have a flexible rib cage that gets pushed in by the pressure of the water. This, and increased water pressure with the increased depth,
squeezes the air out of peripheral areas of the lungs where it readily dissolves into the blood. Air is moved instead into the central spaces of
the lungs, where little nitrogen is absorbed plus apneustic breathing (exhaling before a dive) further reduces the amount of air—and
therefore nitrogen—in the lungs.
2. Echolocation
o sensory system based on hearing
o Marine mammals echolocate by emitting sound waves, which travel about five times faster in water than in air, and listening for the echoes
reflected back from surrounding objects. The brain then analyzes the echoes. The time it takes the echoes to return tells the animals how
far away the object is.
o The sounds used in echolocation consist of short bursts of sharp clicks that are repeated at different frequencies.
o SOFAR (Sonic Fixing and Ranging Channel) – the part of the ocean that conducts sound a bit differently from the rest – low frequency
sounds can travel for hundreds of miles on this channel. It has been suggested that whales use this channel for communication over great
distances.
o A fatty structure on the forehead of toothed whales, the melon, appears to focus and direct the outgoing sound waves.
o Belugas have a bulging forehead, which changes shape as the melon, moved by muscles, focuses the sound. The huge forehead of the
sperm whale is filled in part with a massive melon called the spermaceti organ. This organ is filled with a waxy oil, spermaceti, once much
sought after for making candles and still used as a lubricant for precision instruments
3. Behaviour
o Sounds, or vocalizations, play a prominent role in communication. The humpback whale is renowned for its soulful songs. They are sung
by breeding males to attract females by advertising their readiness to the mate
o Cetaceans are noted for their play behavior, seemingly pleasurable activities with no serious goal. Example:
1) great whale breaching, leaping up in the air and loudly crashing on the surface.
2) Stranding, or beaching, of individuals, sometimes dozens, on beaches - the animals refuse to move, and efforts to move them into deeper
water usually fail.
4. Migrations
o Most great whales migrate from winter breeding areas in the tropics to summer feeding areas in colder waters
5. Reproduction
o To keep the body streamlined, male cetaceans and most other marine mammals have an internal penis and testes. It is extruded just
before copulation through the genital slit, an opening anterior to the anus
 o Pinnipeds herd harems of as many as 50 females onto their territories and keep other males away. Only the strongest males can hold
territories and breed. The others gather into bachelor groups and spend much of their time trying to sneak into harems for a quick
copulation. Defending the harem is exhausting work, and dominant males “burn out” after a year or two, making way for newcomers.
o Females of most species return to the breeding grounds only once a year. By contrast, gestation, the length of time it takes the embryo to
develop, is less than a year. This difference would cause the pup to be born too early, before the mother returns to the breeding ground. To
prevent this, the newly formed embryo stops developing and remains dormant in the female’s womb, the uterus. After a delay of as long as
four months, the embryo finally attaches to the inner wall of the uterus and continues its normal development. This phenomenon, known as
delayed implantation, allows pinnipeds to prolong the embryo’s development so that the timing of birth coincides with the female’s arrival at
the safety of shore.
o Cetacean calves are born tail-first. This allows them to remain attached to the placenta, which provides oxygenated blood from the mother,
for as long as possible to prevent oxygen deprivation
o Fat-rich milk is responsible for the rapid growth of calves, particularly in the great whales. They are born without their full complement of
blubber and must gain weight before migrating with their mothers to feeding grounds in polar waters.

⮚ Taxonomy of marine mammals

1. Order Pinnipedia – seals, sea lions and walruses – to keep warm, they have a thick layer of fat under their skin called blubber, which
also serve as food reserve and helps provide buoyancy. They have bristly hair for added protection against the cold. Their large size
mean that they have smaller surface area than small animals, which is advantageous since smaller surface area means they lose less
body heat
o Seals – paddle shaped flippers for swimming but still need to rest on land
o Sea lions or eared seals – have external seals
o Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) – large pinniped with distinctive tusks protruding down from a mouth
2. Order Carnivora
o Polar bears (Ursus maritimus)
o Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) – smallest marine mammal, lack a layer of blubber, insulation from cold is provided by air trapped in its
dense fur
3. Order Sirenia “sea cows”. Pair of front flippers but no rear limbs, the only strict vegetarians among marine mammals
o Manatees (Trichechus)
o Dugong (Dugong dugon)
4. Order Cetacea. Spend their entire lives in the water, look remarkably fish-like. Breathe air and will drown if trapped below the surface.
Rather than nostrils they have on dorsal side a single (for toothed whales) or double (for baleen whales) opening/s called blowholes
o Toothless, filter-feeding whales like Baleen whales – instead of teeth they have rows of flexible, fibrous plates named baleen that
hang from upper jaws – called “rorquals” feed by gulping up schools of fish and swarms of krill. Largest animals that ever lived on Earth
– blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
o Toothed, carnivorous whales – dolphins and porpoises, travel in pods, herds or schools, lack baleen and feed on fish, squid and other
prey. Largest toothed whale is sperm whale ( Physeter catodon): fond of squid, undigested squid beaks and other debris accumulate in
the gut as large globs of sticky material known as ambergris (becomes an ingredient in fine perfume

Chapter 2. Ecology

Section 1. Definitions and Basic Principles

 Ecology branch of biology that studies how and why organisms interact with each other and with their environment (Webster’s Unabridged
Dictionary)
 Ecology is the branch of biological science concerned with the distribution, abundance, and productivity of living organisms, and their interaction
with each other and with their physical environment. As a discipline, it is relatively young and lacks the large body of generally accepted principles
and theories that characterize older discipline such as physics and chemistry.
 “Ecology” from two Greek roots: oikos, meaning “house or household” or “place to live” and ology, meaning “study of.” Organisms do not exist
alone; rather, they are part of a household, a functional unit that includes other types of organisms and the physical surroundings. Ecology is the
study of the relationship of an organism to both biotic (living) environment and its abiotic (physical) environment (Ernst Haeckel).
 Ecology is the study of organisms “at home” and is usually defined as the study of the relation of organisms or group of organisms to their
environment, or the science of the interrelations between living organisms and their environment (Eugene P. Odum).
 Ecology as the scientific study of interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms (Krebs).
 Another way of defining Ecology is to look at the levels of biological organizations.
 The nature of life (biotic component) in a particular habitat (a place where an organism lives) is determined to a large extent by the non-living, or
abiotic, part of the environment (physical and chemical features such as salinity or bottom type). Each environment has different characteristics
that present both challenges and opportunities for the organisms living there.
 Ecology is divided into:
1. Autecology deals with the study of the individual organism or individual species. Life histories and behavior as a means of adaptation to the
environment are usually emphasized.
2. Synecology deals with the study of groups of organisms which are associated together as a unit. For example, the study of the forest
 Organisms are also affected by other organisms—the living or biotic, environment. Biological populations interact in complex ways that make the
organisms in a community dependent on each other.
 Populations are capable of explosive growth. Growth may be limited however, by either the non-living environment (resources, nutrients
available) or by the activities of the organisms themselves i.e. as the population increases, growth rate of biological population goes down = self-
regulating mechanism. The largest population size that can be sustained by the available resources is called the carrying capacity.

Unit 1. Species Interaction

1. Competition is the interaction that results when a resource is in short supply and one organism uses the resource at the expense of another
o When members of the same species compete it is called intraspecific competition. Competition between species is known as interspecific
competition.
o Competitive exclusion – says that one is certain to become extinct if two species are competing for the same resource in a homogenous and
constant environment. Coexisting species must differ in their niche
o Ecological niche – the role a species play in a community. While habitat is the organism’s address (where it lives), ecological niche is its
profession (what it does biologically). This includes the feeding habits, habitat and all other aspects of the species’ lifestyle
2. Predation is the act of one organism eating another. The organism that does the eating is the predator, and the organism that gets eaten is the
prey.
o The term “predator” is often reserved for carnivores, animals that eat other animals. A special case of predation occurs when organisms eat
algae or plants. This is usually called herbivory rather than predation, and the organism doing the eating is called a herbivore.
o Defense mechanisms that are used only in response to predators are called inducible defenses.
o There is a continual “arms race” between predators and their prey. The predator keeps getting better at catching the prey and overcoming its
defenses. In response, the prey becomes more adept at escaping or develops better defenses. This interplay, with each species evolving in
response to the other, is known as coevolution.
o Natural selection, therefore, favors the most efficient predators in the population and at the same time favors prey that are most successful at
getting away
3. Symbiosis - “living together” – close relationship between two different species. The smaller partner in the symbiosis is usually called the
symbiont and the larger one the host, though sometimes the distinction is unclear. Includes:
o Commensal relationships, one species obtains shelter, food, or some other benefit without affecting the other species one way or the other.
Often the host species provides a home and/or transportation for the benefited species. Barnacles which attached themselves to the back of
whales, and the shells of horseshoe crabs, are provided with both a home and transportation. Remoras are fish that attach themselves to the
belly of sharks by means of a modified dorsal fin that acts as a suction cup. The remoras obtain a free ride and also feed on the remains of the
shark’s prey.
⮚ Inquilism – type of commensalism, one species lives within but does not harm another species Pearl fish of the family Carapidae are inquilines,
living within holothurians (live in intestines, enter and exit through anus), echinoderms (oral cavity), or molluscs (mantle). They can be collected
by collecting the host. Snail fishes (Liparus) and some juvenile hake (Urophycis chuss) are also inquilines, utilizing living scallops as retreat.
o Parasitism - the symbiont benefits at the expense of the host. Usually, the host is larger than the parasite, and the parasite does not
immediately kill the host. While viruses are the only group of organisms that are obligate parasites, there are also parasites among bacteria,
protista, planst and animals. The smaller parasites tend to be endoparasites that live within the bodies of the hosts. The larger parasites tend to
be exoparasites (or ectoparasites) that remain attached to the exterior of the host by means of specialized organs.
o In mutualism, both partners benefit from the relationship.
✔ Cleaning Symbiosis is a phenomenon believed to be quite common among marine organisms. There are species of small fish and shrimp that
specialize in removing parasites from larger fish. The large fish line up at the “cleaning station” and wait their turn, while small fish feel so secure
they even clean the mouths of the larger fish. Not everyone plays fair, however, since there are small fish that mimic the cleaners and take a bite
out of the larger fish, and the cleaner fish are sometimes found in the stomachs of the fish they clean.
✔ In the case of cleaning associations, both partners can get by without the other if they have to, which is called facultative symbiosis. In obligate
symbiosis one or both partners depend on the other.
✔ Resource partitioning - Species can also avoid excluding each other if they share the limiting resource, with each species specializing on just
part of the resource.

Unit 2. Flow of Energy and Materials

 Energy flow is the transfer of energy through an ecosystem. When one organism eats another, both the organic material and the energy stored in
it are passed from one to the other. Thus, energy and chemical substances flow from the non-living part of the ecosystem to organisms and from
organism to organism.
o The flow of energy and matter through an ecosystem can be traced by observing the trophic (feeding) relationship among its organisms: who
makes the food and who eats it. The organisms can be divided into two broad components: primary producers, the autotrophs that make the
food, and consumers, the heterotrophs that eat it.
1. Autotrophic Component (autotrophic = self-nourishing) is a component in which fixation of light energy, use of inorganic substances, and
build-up of complex substances predominate.
2. Heterotrophic Component (heterotrophic = other nourishing) is a component in which utilization, rearrangement and decomposition of
complex materials predominate. Biophages are heterotrophic organisms consuming other living organisms while Saprophages are
heterotrophic organisms feeding on dead organic matter.
 The transfer of energy through the system usually takes place in several steps known as a food chain. Food chain is the transfer of food
energy from the one type of organism its consumer. It is characterized by a series of prey and predator interactions.
There are two types of food chains:
1. Grazing chain: algae 🡪 water fleas 🡪 catfish 🡪 herons
2. Detritus chain: detritus 🡪 soil bacteria 🡪 worms
o Trophic structure is usually a complex, interwoven food web instead of a simple, straight-line food chain. Often a web of indirect
interactions, which means that an effect on one species may flow through an ecosystem in what is called a trophic cascade.
 Each of the steps in the food chain is known as a trophic level. Food chains and food webs are a little easier to understand if we consider the
number of steps, or trophic levels, through which the energy passes:
o Example: Diatoms are the main primary producers in the food web. Consumers that feed directly on the producers are called first-level, or
primary, consumers and occupy the next trophic level. At the level above that are second-level, or secondary, consumers, predators that eat the
primary consumers. Feeding on the secondary consumers are the third-level, or tertiary, consumers, and so on. Each trophic level relies on the
level below for sustenance. At the end of the food web are top predators such as killer whales.
 Trophic pyramid – Instead of being passed on to the next higher level, much of the energy contained in a particular trophic level is used up by the
activities of the organisms. Energy and organic matter are also lost as waste. Depending on the ecosystem, only about 5% to 20% of the energy
in one trophic level is passed on to the next; an average is about 10%.
o Transfer efficiency (TE) is a measure of the amount of carbon that is passed between trophic levels and is used for growth.
 The trophic structure of ecosystems can be represented by a pyramid of energy, with less energy contained in each succeeding level. The
pyramid of energy is based on the actual of energy that individuals take in, how much they burn up during metabolism, how much retain in their
waste products and how much they store in their bodies. The energy inputs and outputs are calculated so that energy flow can be expressed per
unit of water (or land) per unit time. An energy pyramid more accurately reflects the laws of thermodynamics (with energy losses being depicted
at each transfer to another trophic level).

In the energy pyramid, each succeeding trophic level is smaller than the previous level. Less energy is found in each succeeding trophic level
because of the following:
1. Of the food available, only a certain amount is captured and eaten by the next trophic level. After all, prey are adapted in many ways to
escape their predators.
2. Some of the food that is eaten cannot be digested and exits the digestive tract as waste
3. Only a portion of the food that is digested becomes part of the organism’s body. The rest is used as source of energy
o Because there is less energy available at each level, there are also fewer individual organisms. Thus, there are fewer primary consumers
than producers, and fewer secondary than primary consumers. Often, though not always, the trophic pyramid can be pictured in terms of
numbers of individuals as well as energy and is then called the pyramid of numbers (there is a progressive decrease in abundance until the
final stage in the food web, where the carnivores are large and few on number)
o Detritus consists of non-living organic matter that is broken down by decay bacteria, fungi, and other decomposers into its original
components: carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients.
o Some of the organic matter is excreted as waste, is spilled during feeding, or leaks out of cells by diffusion. This material dissolves in the
water, so it is known as dissolved organic matter (DOM). o Nutrient regeneration – when decomposers break down organic matter, the
nutrients incorporated into the organic matter during primary production are released, making the nutrients available again for the
photosynthetic organisms
 The importance of size in aquatic food webs:
Small organisms have faster rates of carrying out life activities, high surface area allows faster transport of substrates across surfaces. They grow
faster and have shorter generation times
o Optimal foraging theory – predators tend to choose to feed on prey whose yield as food is high in relation to the energy or time spent by the
predator in chasing, subduing and eating prey
o Raptorial prey – chase prey hence it seems reasonable to expect their prey to be large
o Suspension feeders – spend much time removing particles from large volumes of water (not energetically costly as hunting) so they may
subsist on smaller prey – but still need to find highly palatable and nutritive food: solved this by having well-developed selectivity as to which food
they feed on and use chemical cues detected by complex chemosensory organs to make decisions about food items
 Rate of primary productivity – amount of carbon fixed under a square meter of sea surface in a day or in a year
o The total amount of organic carbon manufactured by primary producers is called the gross primary production. Primary producers immediately
respire some of the organic matter they make to meet their own energy needs, however, so it is not available as food to other organisms. It is the
organic matter that is left over, or the net primary production, that forms the base of the trophic pyramid.
o To measure: biologists determine either the amount of raw materials used up in photosynthesis or the amount of end products given off.
Photosynthesis produces oxygen and consumes carbon dioxide, so photosynthesis can be estimated by measuring how much oxygen is
produced or carbon dioxide used up

o Measured in light and dark bottles. Changes in the oxygen or carbon dioxide level in the light bottle indicate both photosynthesis and
respiration, whereas changes in the dark bottle reflect only respiration
o More modern method: amount of CO2 used by phytoplankton – uses radioactive C14
Standing stock – or standing crop of phytoplankton, is related to the primary productivity, but the two are not the same thing.
o The standing stock refers to how much phytoplankton is already in the water.
Primary productivity refers to the amount of new organic material being created.
 o Determined by measuring the chlorophyll concentration – under certain kinds of light, chlorophyll emits a glow or fluorescence; the amount of
chlorophyll can be determined measuring this
 Cycles of essential nutrients – once energy that is stored in organic compounds is used in metabolism or given off as heat, it is lost to the system
forever. Unlike energy, the materials that make up organic matter can be used over and over in a repeating cycle. Some carbon is also deposited
as calcium carbonate in biogenous sediments and coral reefs. Under certain conditions, some of this dissolves back

Unit 3. Freshwater Ecosystems

 Aquatic ecosystems can be divided into two types:

(1) inland or freshwater ecosystem, and
(2) oceanic or saltwater or marine ecosystem (to be discussed in unit 4).
 Freshwater ecosystem cover 0.8% of the Earth’s surface and contain 0.009% of its total water. They generate nearly 3% of its primary
production. Freshwater ecosystem contain 41% of the world’s known species.
 Limnology is a field of study that is concerned with the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of inland waters, the changes in and
relationships among these characteristics. It is primarily concerned with the capacity and potential of inland waters for biological production.
 Inland waters are those bodies of water located within continental land masses. It also includes those zone where river and sea meet. Broad
categories of bodies of water studied in limnology include lakes and rivers. The river stored beneath the ground as well as estuaries which are
mouths of rivers where the currents meet the tides are also considered as inland water resources.
 Limnology and Oceanography are counterpart fields of study. They deal with the physical, chemical, and biological features of bodies of water as
factors that characterize and influence their biological production. Limnology is concerned with the character and quantity of biological
productivity of inland waters while Oceanography is concerned with that of the oceans.
 Fresh water is a distillate of salt water, which is readily apparent when considering the water cycle. As the sun’s rays cause seawater to
evaporate, the salts are left behind. The vaporized fresh water rises into the atmosphere, cools and falls as rain either over the ocean or over the
land. A lesser amount of water also evaporates from and returns to the land. Since land lies above sea level, gravity eventually returns all fresh
water to the sea, but in the meantime, it is contained within standing waters (lakes and ponds), flowing waters (streams and rivers), and
groundwater.
 When rain falls, some of the water sinks or percolates into the ground and saturates the earth to a certain level. The top of the saturation zone is
called the groundwater table, or simply the water table. Whenever the earth contains basins or channels, water will appear to the level of the
water table. The water within basins is called lakes and ponds, and the water within channels is called streams or rivers.
 Sometimes groundwater is also located in porous layer, called an aquifer that lies between two sloping layers of impervious rock. Human beings
often remove this water by means of specially constructed wells.

Part 1. Nature and properties of water

1. Geometry: water molecule is formed by the joining together of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen by means of covalent bonds. In the
water molecule, there is a covalent bond between the oxygen atom and each of the hydrogen atoms. The sharing of electrons is accomplished by
the overlapping orbitals of the linked atoms. The bonded atoms form an angle of about 105° with the oxygen nucleus as the apex.
o Consequence of geometry:
a. Density of water. The molecular structure of water gives it unique physical characteristics affecting the movements of water masses in lakes.
Water maximum density is at 3.98°C: the water at lower temperature is less dense, that’s why ice floats on top of water. Above this value,
water becomes less dense with increasing temperature.
b. Specific heat of water. The amount of heat (in calories) necessary to raise by 1⁰C the temperature of 1 g of water is a physical unique to
water. It is equal to 1, the highest among all solids and liquids, with the exception of liquid ammonia. For this reason, the water is an
accumulator of of heat, ensuring that the aquatic environment is thermally more stable than the ground. Also the interval between the
extreme daily values is much more reduced in water than in air, thus making the underwater climate thermally rather uniform.
2. Polarity: the water molecule also exhibits unequal distribution of electrons and polarity. The greater positive charge of the oxygen nucleus which
has 8 protons causes the oxygen to pull the shared electrons closer to itself. Accordingly, the electrons tend to concentrate near the oxygen
nucleus and away from the hydrogen nuclei of which has only 1 proton. This asymmetry in the distribution of electrons causes the unbalanced
distribution of electrical charges as well. The oxygen side of the molecule assumes an apparent negative charge while the center of the hydrogen
side assumes an apparent positive charge. As a result, the water molecule exhibits polarity.
Consequence of Polarity: water as a universal solvent
o Because water molecules interact with other water molecules and other polar molecules, water is able to dissolve nearly everything.
o Given enough time, water can dissolve more substances and in greater quantity than any other known substance – universal solvent. This is
the reason why the ocean contains so much dissolved material. The process by which water molecules completely surround ions is called
hydration

Part 2. Types of Inland waters

I. Lentic series or standing water series
A. Definition
 The term lentic habitat is derived from the Latin “lentus” meaning “sluggish”. As defined by Welch (1952), the lentic or standing water series
refers to all forms of inland bodies of water in which the water is essentially static, that is, it does not move continuously in one direction,
although a certain amount of motion in the form of waves and internal currents occur.
  LAKE – body of water occupied in a basin and lacking continuity with the sea. It has a considerable area and deep enough to stratify. They
are formed in depressions (called lake basins) in the landscape. The depression is surrounded by airshed and watershed.
1. The airshed is the part of the atmosphere that contributes precipitation.
2. Watershed is the drainage basin or catchment basin surrounded by a ridge, or drainage divide. The divide marks are the boundaries of
a watershed. Surface water in the water shed flows into the lake as overland flow or thru entering rivers. Groundwater also contributes
to the lake.
o Most lakes are young < 15,000 years. Lakes are born to die because of sediment traps. They begin filling up with sediments upon
formation. Solutes and particulate, organics and minerals accumulate in the lake
o Origins could be ALLOCHTHONOUS (originating from the outside) from the airshed or watershed or AUTOCHTHONOUS (self-formed or
formed in place) from the lake itself (through photosynthesis, mineral precipitation).
 POND – small shallow body of water with extensive occupancy by higher aquatic plants are common. It is usually shallow, enough to permit
the growth of rooted plants from one shore to the other.
 SWAMP – small shallow body of water smaller than a pond occupied by rooted vegetation whose stalks extend to the air. It is a wet low land
which supports mosses and shrubs together with relatively, with relatively large trees.
B. Nature of succession in the lentic series
 Succession in the lentic series goes toward extinction with age. Extinction with age means that a lake slowly changes in character to
ultimately give rise to a swamp. The order of changes or sequence of units is called succession. Natural processes work toward progressive
but inevitable reduction of a large standing body of water (lake) to a small body (pond) and finally to a wetland (swamp) or to a relatively dry
land. The time needed to effect complete transformation varies from less than the average human life span for small, shallow lakes to many
centuries for very large deep ones.
C. Causes of succession on lentic series – why does a lake become a swamp after some time?
 Gradual filling of lake basins. The continuous deposition and accumulation of sediments and other materials into a lake basin is the primary
cause of the disappearance of lakes. Deposited materials are in the form of:
1. Debris transported by wind, such as dust, sand, and the like
2. Sediments carried and dropped by entering streams and run-off waters from adjacent slopes.
3. Materials cut from exposed lake shores by wave action/
4. Accumulation of organic matters in the form of plant secretions, remains of animal life such as shells, and remains of plant life,
particularly of higher aquatic plants
 Catastrophic events. Examples of catastrophes that may destroy lake basins are a great flood which may destroy a lava dam which
produced the lake originally, and on earthquake which may remove the basin through an uplifting of the land surface.
 Loss of water. Lakes often become extinct because their water is drained away, such as when the outlet stream erodes its valley below the
level of the lake floor, or when a major feeder stream is diverted away. A change in climate that brings very dry conditions to the region may
also cause a lake to lose its water.
D. Origin of Lakes
1. Tectonic Origins. Lakes basins of tectonic origins are those formed by deep earth crustal movements such as those along a fracture or fault.
a. Rift lake/ Graben – a tilted fault block often forms a lake basin in the depression between the tilted blocks. Adjacent parallel faults may
form an elongated basin as a result of the sinking of the blocks between them. The trough-like basin created in this manner is called a
Graben. Example: Lake Baikal
b. Relic lake – a part of the sea bottom may rise and subsequently close off a water area from the rest. Epeirogenesis are wide reaching
tectonic events that raise large crustal blocks and sometimes bring about the formation of enormous basins. Example: Laguna lake (no
one knows how it became separated from the rest of the Manila bay)
2. Volcanic Origins.
a. Crater lake – crater of an extinct volcano may fill with water. This happens when the roof of volcanic crater caves in forming a large
caldera which becomes a lake after being filled with water. Example: Taal Lake, Lake Buhi, Lake Mainit
b. Maar lake – The lava also causes the creation of lakes. Flowing lava frequently crosses and dams an existing river valley, to form a
lake. As a result of differential cooling, the surface of hardened lava is irregular and a few of the depression may later fill with water.
3. Glacial Origins. Glaciers produce lakes principally through their erosional activity and as a result of the deposits they leave behind. In
addition to their massive size and weight, glaciers contain ice, gravel, sand, etc., which serves as sharp tools that scour out and deepen
depressions in solid rock.
a. An example of a lake whose basin is formed by glacial erosion is a cirque lake.
A cirque lake is a bowl-shaped or amphitheater-like depression in a mountain side eroded by a descending valley glacier
b. Kettle lake – Glacial deposits are collectively called moraines. Many lake basins are formed on the uneven surface of the rocks and
debris left behind on the ground by a moving or a receding glacier. Many depressions on these ground moraine may later fill with water
from melting ice, from rainfall, or from beneath the grounds. Some lakes are also made by the damming of streams by glacial moraines.
4. Fluvial Origins. Lakes produces as a result of the action of running water are called fluviatile lakes.
a. A specific type of fluviatile lake is the oxbow lake. An oxbow lake is one formed by the isolation of a loop of a widely curving or
meandering river. As elevation nears sea level and the river begins to slow, meanders begin to form (figure below). Erosion is
prominent along the outer edge of a meander where the water moves the fastest. This area is called the cut or undercut bank as severe
undercutting creates a steep slope on this side of the river. Along the inner edge of the meander, the water moves slower and
deposition of sediment occurs. This inner bank is known as the point bar or slip-off slope. Here gravel, sand, and silt deposits create a
gradual slope and shallow water close to the shoreline.
 b. Another lake of fluvial origin is the plunge-pool lake whose basin is eroded at the foot of a steep cliff by the impact of running water as it
plunges and falls over the cliff. Fluviatile lakes also arise from the damming of a river by sediments deposited by a tributary.
5. Miscellaneous Origin. In addition to the major processes described above, lake basins are created by a number of minor processes.
a. Solution lakes are created by the dissolution and erosion of soluble rock, such as limestone, by flowing surface water or percolating
ground water.
b. Mudflows and landslides from adjacent slopes may block streams and form lakes.
c. The impact of meteors on the earth’s surface produces depressions that could become lakes.
d. Diggings and depressions made by man, like those in abandoned mines and quarries, may form lakes. Further, man constructs dams,
barriers, or excavations to impound or store water which would otherwise run away from a catchment area. Man-made lakes known as
reservoirs. They usually serve multiple purposes such as for irrigation of croplands, hydroelectric power generation, flood control, and
others.

E. Lakes in the world

II. Lotic series or running water series
A. Definition
 The term lotic habitat is derived from the Latin word “lautus” a form of the verb meaning “to wash”. According to Welch (1952), the lotic
or running water series refers to all forms of inland bodies of water in which the entire body of water moves continuously in a definite
direction. The water follows the contour of the land flowing downward ultimately into the sea. The units that make up the series also
undergo succession.
 River – is a natural waterway that transits water through a landscape from higher to lower elevations.
 Stream - is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and banks. Streams are important as conduits in the water cycle,
instruments in aquifer recharge, and corridors for fish and wildlife migration.
 Creek – A small to medium sized natural stream. Sometimes navigable by motor craft and may be intermittent. A tidal inlet, typically in
a saltmarsh or mangrove swamp. Alternatively, between enclosed and drained, former saltmarshes or swamps.
 Tributary – A contributory stream, or a stream which does not reach the sea but joins another river (a parent river). Sometimes also
called a branch or fork.
 Brook - A stream smaller than a creek, especially one that is fed by a spring or seep. It is usually small and easily forded. A brook is
characterized by its shallowness and its bed being composed solely of rocks.
B. Nature of succession in the lotic series
 Succession in the lotic series is toward extension with time. The bodies of water in the series increases the length, width and depth of
their channel with advancing age. A river’s age is based on the extent to which it has cut its valley toward its base level.
 Base level is the level of the body of water into which the river flows, that is, sea level or the level of a receiving lake. It is also the
lowest level to which a land surface can be reduced by running water. The closer the river approaches its base level, the more it is said
to be. Also, not all parts of the stream are usually in the same stage of development. Its upper reaches are usually youthful, that is, are
in earlier evolutionary stages – creeks, brooks, rivulets – in that sequence moving upstream.
C. Causes of succession on lotic series – why does a rivulet become a stream/ river after some time?
Extension is accomplished in the lotic series through continuous erosion. The work of running water is through the combination of two types
of erosive action, namely:
1. Mechanical Erosion. Running water mechanically erodes the land by abrasion, the grinding contact of the boulders, rock fragments,
and sediments it rolls or carries in suspension against the material of the substrate.
2. Chemical Erosion. Rocks that are resistant to abrasion are worn down through chemical erosion. Running water dissolves and carries
away the soluble minerals and materials in the soils and rocks it encounters along its path.

The rate at which running water carves a new path for itself on the land surface, establishes its channel, and eventually produces a fully
developed valley containing a permanent river, depends principally on the susceptibility of the bedrock to erosion and the velocity of the
water. Running water accomplishes the greatest work of erosion during flood times. During those times, the velocity of running water
rises several folds which allow it to carry more and larger particles. The abrasive power of water is thus correspondingly enhanced.
D. The things that running water accomplishes through its motion:
1. Erosion. Through a long process of eating away at rocks, or erosion, running water sculptured the face of the earth and continues to do
so
o Erosion by water combines mechanical and chemical actions
o Running water picks up loose soil and rock fragments along the way. With these it grinds against solid rocks and slowly wears them
down. Some particularly hard rocks resist mechanical erosion. But water reinforces its abrasive action by chemically attacking them as
well. Water is an excellent solvent.
o Naturally the weaker or softer its materials, the faster land erodes. Steep slope, fast flow by running water, and increased quantity of
abrasive materials facilitate the process.
2. Transportation. While eroding, running water simultaneously picks up materials and becomes a medium for transportation.
o Rivers carry enormous amount of material in solution. Transport by solution refers to anything that has been dissolved by river water
and carried away in this manner. It is important to realize that material carried in solution is invisible and the water can appear crystal
clear yet have in it many soluble minerals. As much as half of the sediment load of a river may be carried in solution.
 o It carries a load, which may consist of both dissolved and solid matter. Small and fine particles like silt, clay and sand are suspended
in the water column. They collectively compose the suspended load.
o Particles that are too heavy to travel in suspension may move along the bottom by bouncing and rolling. This method of transport is
referred to as saltation. With suspension and saltation, it is the speed of the river’s flow that plays a key role in how material is moved
down stream.
o The bigger, heavier solids are the bed load. Water transports them along the bed (that is, the bottom) by rolling, or pushing, or by an
alternate quick lifting and dropping action – traction.
o The maximum load that water can carry at a given discharge is its capacity. The size of the largest particles it can move indicates its
competence.
3. Deposition. When running water loses momentum, it does something else
o When running water slows down for some reason, it deposits some of its solid load. But its speed fluctuates. So it repeatedly picks up
and drops particles along its route
o In many cases, water re-suspends the deposits again
o However, some deposits remain and build up over many years to become more or less permanent features of the landscape
E. Origin of River
 A stream bed, or channel, is the trench on the ground that serves as passageway for running water. The valley is the elongated lowland
in between mountain ranges, hills, or other uplands, which contains the stream on its floor
 With few exceptions, rivers excavate the channels and valleys in which they flow. Rivers normally originate as tiny gullies in low places
on the land surface where run-off water from rain, concentrate. A gully is a miniature valley that deepens and widens as it collects
increasing volumes of water. As it grows, its ability to cut the land increases. Several gullies may also join together to form larger
channels and collect more water
 Erosion at the head of the gullies causes them to lengthen, extending up existing slopes of the terrain. This process by gullies grow by
extending their upper reaches is called headward erosion. The combination of headward erosion (lengthening), downward cutting
towards base level (deepening) and sideward cutting (widening) eventually forms a fully developed valley with a continuously flowing
stream at its bottom.
 The geographic area which supplies water to the network of streams above is called a drainage basin or watershed. A mountain region
may consist of many drainage basins and the separating ridge between two drainage basins is known as a divide.
 Types of drainage patterns
o As rivers erode the landscape a certain drainage pattern begins to take shape. A definite determining factor in the formation of a
drainage pattern is the hardness of rock layers in the region:
1. A dendritic drainage pattern is the most common of all drainage patterns and resembles the veins of a leaf. This pattern type can
be found in areas where rock layers are of uniform hardness.
2. A trellis drainage pattern is established in areas where folding and tilting of rock layers may confine rivers to parallel valleys that
meet a larger stream at right angles.
3. A radial drainage pattern occurs on cone-shaped mountains such as volcanoes. Water will flow away from the high point equally in
all directions.

F. Four stages of river development:

1. Youth stage – A river in youth stage cuts a deep V-shaped valley as the fast moving water transports material downstream. Rivers in
youth stage are dominated by erosion as the turbulent water allows for very little deposition to occur. Features commonly seen in these
rivers include rapids, waterfalls and various sizes of boulders along the river bed.
2. Mature stage – As the river enters mature stage a definite drainage pattern is evident in the watershed drained by the river. During this
stage of development vertical erosion still continues but downstream lateral erosion of the banks is evident as meanders and a flood
plain start to take shape. Here the velocity of the flow slows considerably and deposition of river sediment is common.
3. Old age stage – In old age, the flood plain which began to form in mature stage continues to widen and extensive meandering occurs.
The river even cuts across some meanders to create oxbow lakes. Periodic flooding has deposited rich alluvium throughout the flood
plain and natural levees are prominent along the river banks. The river delta is well developed, and in many cases continues to grow
by several meters each year as sediment is flushed down from the highland region.
4. Rejuvenated stage – In the rejuvenated river stage, the land has undergone a slow uplifting and caused the river to return to a period of
vertical erosion such as was the case in youthful stage and a deep v-shaped valley once again takes shape. The river cuts through the
flood plain created during old age and continues vertical erosion until its elevation again nears sea level. Once the elevation has been
reduced sufficiently, lateral erosion replaces vertical erosion and the creation of a new flood plain begins.

Major river basins in the Philippines

III. Riparian zone - is the interface between land and a flowing surface water body. Plant communities along the river margins are called riparian
vegetation, characterized by hydrophilic plants. Riparian zones occur in many forms including grassland, woodland, wetland or even non-
vegetative. In some regions the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone or riparian strip are used to characterize a riparian
zone. The word "riparian" is derived from Latin ripa, meaning river bank.

Wetlands are ecosystems that straddle the boundary between land and water. Irrespective of its vegetation, every wetland overlies a substrate
that is either saturated with water or entirely flooded for at least part of the year. Characterized by:
1. Presence of water – water is either at or near the land surface for some time. Some wetlands are continually flooded while others may
simply have saturated soils. The existence of all types of wetlands, as well as many of their biological characteristics, is determined by
water: the amount that flows into and out of wetlands and the amount that is stored there
2. Soil type – wetland soils are called hydric soils and have characteristics which indicate they are different from nearby upland soils.
3. Vegetation type – wetland plants, called hydrophytes, are adapted to life in wet conditions. Cattails, bulrushes and saw grass are familiar
hydrophytes.

Types of wetlands:
1. Mires – low-lying wetland of deep, soft soil or mud that sinks underfoot.
o Soil type: Wetlands that develop over acidic peat, the partly decomposed remains of mosses and other plants. Peat-based wetlands are
especially widespread in cool, damp boreal regions with a high water table and poor drainage. In peatlands, plants are produced more
quickly than they can decay, and partially decomposed plant material, called peat, accumulates. Peat provides an organic soil that
influences plant growth.
a. Bogs – sphagnum and other mosses are the dominant vegetation. Because they are watered principally by rain, which is low in
nutrients, bogs are infertile places, and some species of plants supplement their diets by trapping and digesting insects.
b. Fens – sedges, grasses, and rushes dominate, are kept wet by seeps, springs, or streams, and are more fertile than bogs
2. Swamps and marshes
o Soil type: Wetlands that develop over soil composed of minerals, with more or less organic humus mixed in.
a. Swamp – flooded forests or woodlands. The water of a swamp may be fresh water or salt water. Freshwater swamps may line the
banks of rivers or grow in their floodplains. Mangrove swamps grow in estuarine or coastal situations, so it is brackish or salty water
that inundates the roots (and sometimes the trunks and crowns) of the trees at high tide. Mangrove swamps are widespread in the
tropics and subtropics, where they are best developed in river deltas, in the lee of coral reefs or islands, and along broad and gently
sloping shores.
b. Marsh, or morass – dominant vegetation is herbaceous rather than woody (emergent vegetation mostly - the stems and leaves of the
plants stick out above the water surface). If a swamp is a flooded forest, then a marsh is a flooded grassland. A marsh is different from
a swamp, which has a greater proportion of open water surface, and is generally deeper than a marsh.
⮚ Perennial marshes remain wet through the year, but other marshes are ephemeral, flourishing during the season when water is
available and then drying up.
⮚ Just as swamps may develop in salty or brackish water, so too may marshes. The salt marshes of the temperate zone replace the
mangrove swamps of the subtropics. These marshes are among the most productive ecosystems on earth. Their influence is far-
reaching: Coastal food chains are based on organic detritus from the marshes and many of the fish and shellfish nourished offshore will
return to the marshes to