Digestion in fishes

1.What is the primary purpose of nutrition in fishes?

Answer: To grow and survive.

2.How have researchers learned about feeding behavior in

fishes?
Answer: Through observation in the field and laboratory
studies.

3.What is the significance of information gained from

propagating fishes efficiently?
Answer: It provides valuable insights into fish nutrition.

4.What is the primary factor in determining what a fish will

eat?
Answer: The availability of food
5.What types of foods do fishes
consume in nature?
Answer: Plants and animals.

6.Do fishes directly absorb soluble nutrients from the

water?
Answer: Yes

7.Which mineral is absorbed extra-enterally and is vital for

scale and bone formation?
Answer: Calcium.

8.What kind of fish primarily lives on the blood and tissue

fluids of other fishes?
Answer: Sea lamprey.

9.What do many young fishes with tiny mouths begin to

feed on?
Answer: Plankton.

10.What do gizzard shads mainly feed on throughout their

lives?
Answer: Phytoplankton.

11.How do parrotfishes consume algae?

Answer: They bite off pieces with their beak.

12.What do pharyngeal grinding teeth do for parrotfishes?

Answer: They mill pieces of food to expose their contents.

13.What is a common food source for herring?

Answer: Zooplankton.

24.What types of invertebrates are important as fish food?

Answer: Annelid worms, snails, mussels, clams,
crustaceans, and insects.
15.Which classes of vertebrates can be prey for fishes?
Answer: Birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and other
fishes.

16.What can be found in the stomach of certain predatory

fishes like pike?
Answer: Small rodents, snakes, or turtles.

17.What are frogs a natural food source for?

Answer: Predatory freshwater fishes.

18.Why do fish migrations often occur?

Answer: To follow abundant sources of food.

19.How do changes in food abundance affect fish growth

and survival?
Answer: They have a significant impact.

20.What is important for the survival of a year class of fish?

Answer: Availability of plankton at the time of hatching.

21.When do trouts in American streams experience rapid

growth?
Answer: During a peak of insect emergence.

22.What is the prey vulnerable to during the peak of insect

emergence?
Answer: Predation.

23.What determines whether a potential food species will

be eaten by fishes?
Answer: Abundance of the food species.

24.Do most fishes have strict feeding habits?

Answer: No, they are highly adaptable.

25.What might the diet of some fishes change with?

Answer: The season.

26.What might a Bermuda angelfish be predominantly in

summer and early fall?
Answer: Carnivorous.

27.In which seasons might a Bermuda angelfish be

herbivorous?
Answer: Winter and spring.

28.What is the primary purpose of the fish's digestive

tract?
Answer: Digestion of food.

29.What do gill rakers in some fishes like gizzard shads

assist in?
Answer: Filtering phytoplankton.
30.What is the primary factor in determining what a fish
will eat?
Answer: The availability of food.
31.What occupies the bottom level of a food pyramid in aquatic
ecosystems?
Answer: Green plants.

32.Which organisms in the food web are typically found at the

highest trophic level?
Answer: Carnivores.

33.In which zone of aquatic ecosystems do organisms depend

on items that move from above, such as migration or carcasses?
Answer: Deepwater or abyssal zones.

34.What is the primary source of energy harnessed by green

plants in aquatic ecosystems?
Answer: Sun's energy.

35.What do bacteria do with the excretions and remains of

living organisms in the food cycle?
Answer: Break them down into raw materials.
36.In deepwater zones, what organisms may bridge the gap
between the light and dark areas by feeding on pelagic
crustaceans?
Answer: Small fishes.

37.What is the primary process that occurs in the upper sunlit

waters of lakes, rivers, and oceans in terms of the food cycle?
Answer: Synthesis or production.

38.Where do nutrients accumulate as organic matter sinks in

deepwater zones?
Answer: Ooze.

39.In deepwater zones, what happens to the total biomass at

successive downward levels?
Answer: It becomes smaller and smaller.

40.Which organisms are typically placed at the apex of a food

pyramid in aquatic ecosystems?
Answer: Largest carnivores or top predators.
41.What are the intermediate-level organisms in the food
pyramid, including mollusks, certain insect larvae, and
crustaceans?
Answer: Herbivores.

42.What process allows plants to harness radiant energy into

new protoplasm in aquatic ecosystems?
Answer: Photosynthesis.

43.What is the primary function of the upper zone in deepwater

ecosystems?
Answer: Synthesis or production.

44.What type of organisms might feed upon crustaceans in

deepwater zones?
Answer: Small fishes.

45.What is the role of bacteria in the deep sea when it comes to

organic matter?
Answer: Breakdown and recycling.
46.In what zones do the total biomass become smaller and
smaller as you move downward in aquatic ecosystems?
Answer: Successive downward levels.

47.What type of zone might lack the light necessary for

synthesis to occur in deepwater ecosystems?
Answer: The zone beneath the level of browsing.
48.What is the main characteristic common to all fish
feeding habits?
Answer: Taking food into the mouth.

49.Which type of fish typically has well-developed grasping

teeth for hunting?
Answer: Predators.

50.Which group of fish has a short intestine compared to

herbivores of similar size?
Answer: Predators.

51.What kind of feeding behavior do fish like groupers

exhibit when hunting for prey?
Answer: Lying in wait and darting out to grasp prey.

52.Which fish family uses an anterior ray of the dorsal fin

as a lure to attract prey?
Answer: Anglerfishes (Lophiidae and Antennariidae).

53.What Southeast Asian fish shoots insects from plants by

spitting at them?
Answer: Archerfish (Toxotes jaculator).

54.Which sensory organs do many nocturnal fishes rely on

to locate prey?
Answer: Smell, taste, touch, and lateral-line sense organs.

55.How do grazing fishes like bluegill often feed on the

bottom of a lake?
Answer: By taking individual bites.

56.What do many young fishes that grow into predators

often feed on?
Answer: Plankton.

57.What specialized grazing behavior involves fish

browsing on parts of other fish?
Answer: Lepidophagy (ingesting scales from other fish).

58.What adaptation do straining fishes like menhaden have

for feeding?
Answer: Numerous, close-set, and elongated gill rakers.

59.How much water can an adult menhaden strain through

its gill rakers per minute?
Answer: 1-2 gallons.

60.What do straining fishes like menhaden mainly feed on?

Answer: Plankton concentrate, including diatoms and
crustaceans.
61.What type of fish has inferior mouths and sucking lips
for feeding?
Answer: Suckers (e.g., sturgeons and some minnows).

62.What type of fish sucks in mud to extract organisms in

it?
Answer: Bottom-feeding fishes.

63.How do some oriental catfishes feed on bottom

deposits?
Answer: They ingest remains of flocculent bottom deposits
along with bottom organisms.

64.What feeding habit indirectly affects machinery used for

oil extraction from fish wastes?
Answer: Mud-sucking feeding habit.

65.What is the most unusual and highly evolved feeding

habit among animals?
Answer: Parasitism.

66.Which fish species suck body fluids from host fish after
rasping a hole in the host's body?
Answer: Lampreys and hagfishes.
67.Name a parasitic lamprey found in the western North
Atlantic.
Answer: Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus).

68.What do parasitic lampreys and hagfishes primarily feed

on?
Answer: Body fluids of host fish.

69.What type of host does the Pacific lamprey include in its

feeding behavior?
Answer: Whales.

70.What is the name of the deep-sea eel that exhibits

parasitic behavior?
Answer: Simenchelys parasiticus.

71.In some deep-sea anglerfish species, what do males

become after attaching to females?
Answer: Animated gonads.

72.What is the primary source of nourishment for the

attached male deep-sea anglerfish?
Answer: Absorption of nutrients from the female.

73.In certain livebearing fishes, what represents an

extreme nutritional specialization?
Answer: Intra-uterine absorption of nourishment by
embryos.

74.Which fish family is known for scraping and sucking

algae or moss-covered stones?
Answer: Old World minnows (e.g., fringelips, Labeo, and
Osteochilus).

75.What type of adaptation do straining fishes develop for

efficient feeding?
Answer: Numerous, close-set, and elongated gill rakers.

76.Which type of fish has an inferior mouth and sucking

lips?
Answer: Suckers (e.g., sturgeons and some minnows).

77.Which type of fish feeds by actively hunting their prey?

Answer: Predators

78.Fishes that feed on plankton or bottom organisms are

often categorized as:
Answer: Grasers

79.What is the primary source of nourishment for the

attached male deep-sea anglerfish?
Answer: Absorption of nutrients from the female
80.What type of feeding habit is characterized by the intra-
uterine absorption of nourishment?
Answer: Parasitism

81.Which type of fish is known for scraping off coral

particles on a coral reef?
Answer: Grasers
Feeding adaptation

82.What is the primary reason for the diversity in feeding habits

among fishes?
Answer: Evolution leading to structural adaptations.

83.Which adaptation in fishes is associated with getting food

from various environmental situations?
Answer: Structural adaptations.

84.Which anatomical feature represents a significant advance in

vertebrate evolution regarding feeding?
Answer: True jaws.

85.What is the function of the lips in fishes with jaw-equipped

mouths?
Answer: Biting function.

86.Fishes that swallow large morsels of food typically have what

kind of lips?
Answer: Relatively thin lips.
87.What type of feeders have an inferior mouth and fleshy lip
modifications?
Answer: Suctorial feeders.

88.Name the family of North Temperate Zone fishes known for

their suctorial feeding with mobile lips.
Answer: Sturgeons (Acipenseridae).

89.What are barbels, and which fishes often have them?

Answer: Sensory organs bordering the mouth; sturgeons and
Asiatic hillstream loaches.

90.In fast-flowing mountain streams, suctorial lips of some

fishes can serve as what?
Answer: Holdfast organs.

91.What is the specialized suctorial adaptation in some

Southeastern Asian fish species?
Answer: Opercular structure with separate water inhalent and
exhalent device.
92.In parasitic lampreys, the jawless suctorial mouth serves
both as a holdfast and for what purpose?
Answer: Food removal from the host.

93.What is the function of the sucking disc in lampreys?

Answer: Dislodging and transporting stones from nest pits in
streams.

94.In what position do spawning lampreys anchor themselves

using the sucking disc?
Answer: Side-by-side with the head directed upstream.

95.What kind of mouth adaptation is seen in trumpetfishes and

pipefishes?
Answer: Elongated beaks.

96.Which group of fish forms temporary tubes to engulf their

prey from close range?
Answer: Predators like dories and certain wrasses.

98.What is the adaptation for increasing the gape of the mouth

in predatory deep-sea fishes like the viperfish?
Answer: Modifications in skull bones and their articulations.

99.How do halfbeaks differ in mouth structure compared to

other fishes?
Answer: Lower jaw projecting into a beak with the mouth
opening above it.

100.What is thought to be the origin of fish teeth?

Answer: Scales covering the lips.

101.What are the three main types of bony fish teeth based on
their location?
Answer: Jaw, mouth, and pharyngeal teeth.

102.Which teeth type are elongated, straight or curved, and

adapted for piercing and holding prey?
Answer: Canine teeth.

103.What is the function of molariform teeth in fish?

Answer: Crushing and grinding.
104.Which family of fish has cardiform teeth that resemble
multiple-toothed wool cards?
Answer: North American catfishes (Ictaluridae).

105.What kind of teeth are found in needlefishes and

lionfishes?
Answer: Villiform teeth.

106.Which type of teeth are characterized by their saw-edged

appearance?
Answer: Incisor teeth.

107.In which fish family do the teeth fuse into cutting "beaks"?
Answer: Parrotfishes (Scaridae).

108.What are gill rakers primarily responsible for in fish?

Answer: Protecting gill

109.What kind of gill rakers are found in gizzard shads and

paddlefish?
Answer: Simple but numerous gill rakers.
110.What is the adaptive value of a distensible esophagus in
fishes?
Answer: It prevents choking and allows for easy swallowing of
large items.

111.What adaptation do sturgeons and mullets have in their

stomachs?
Answer: stomachs are modified into grinding organs.

112.How do deep-sea swallowers like the gulpers use their

stomach adaptation?
Answer: It help them to swallow

113.What is the main purpose of the modification of the

stomach in puffers and porcupinefishes?
Answer: As a defense mechanism

114.In which fishes is the intestine typically shortened?

Answer: Essential carnivores like pike (Esox lucius).
115.What do some fishes use instead of intestinal folds for
digestion and absorption?
Answer: A spiral valve

116.What happens to the digestive tract in adult sea lampreys

during spawning?
Answer: It becomes a mere thread with practically no lumen.

117.What is the adaptive value of losing the stomach in certain

fish species?
Answer: It may improve the efficiency of digestion and visceral
compactness.

118.What family of fish has substituted a spiral valve for folds of

the intestine?
Answer: Chondrichthyes (sharks and relatives).

120.What happens to the digestive tract of Pacific salmons

when they reach their freshwater spawning grounds?
Answer: It undergoes reduction and autolysis
121.What adaptation is often seen in the intestine of
predominantly herbivorous fish species?
Answer: Elongation and many folds

122.What is autolysis in the context of the digestive tract of

fishes?
Answer: The digestion of the intestine itself as a result of
ceasing to feed
Physiology of digestion in fishes

123.How is the movement of food facilitated in the digestive

tract of fish?
Answer: Peristaltic waves of muscular contraction.
124.In which part of the digestive tract is movement voluntary
due to skeletal muscles?
Answer: Anterior part of the tract.

125.What is the purpose of mucus secretion in the digestive

tract?
Answer: To lubricate food materials and protect the gut lining.

126.Which enzyme is secreted by gastric glands in predacious

fishes to split large protein molecules?
Answer: Pepsinogen (Hydrochloric acid and pepsinogen
together).

127.What is the primary role of the pyloric caeca?

Answer: Digestive and absorptive functions.
128.Which enzyme breaks down fats into fatty acids and
glycerine in the digestive system?
Answer: Lipase.

129.Where does absorption of fats primarily occur in the

digestive system?
Answer: Anterior part of the intestine.

130.What enzyme is responsible for breaking down cellulose in

plant materials in some fish?
Answer: Cellulase (produced by endocommensal bacteria).

131.How is the pancreas in fish unique compared to some other

animals?
Answer: It has both exocrine and endocrine functions.

132.What is the primary role of insulin in the pancreas?

Answer: Regulating blood sugar levels.

131.What is the pH range at which proteases and enzymes in

the fish intestine work best?
Answer: Neutral to alkaline.

132.What is the smallest unit into which proteins are broken

down in the fish intestine?
Answer: Dipeptides.

133.Where does ichthyosarcotoxism originate in fish?

Answer: Feeding habits and marine plants.

134.Which type of fishes are known to be most toxic to humans

regarding ichthyosarcotoxism?
Answer: Tropical reef-dwelling fishes.

135.What is the primary symptom of ciguatera-type fish

poisoning?
Answer: Nervous system reactions.

136.Which family of fishes can regulate their body

temperature?
Answer: Tuna.
137.What factor primarily determines the metabolic rate and
nutritional requirements of fish?
Answer: Water temperature.

138.In which zones, Temperate or Tropical, are seasonal water

temperature fluctuations more significant?
Answer: Temperate Zones.

139What is the main source of detailed nutritional data for fish,

especially salmonids?
Answer: Efforts to raise them for food and stocking.

140.Which muscle type is involved in the voluntary movement

of food in the anterior part of the digestive tract?
Answer: Skeletal muscle.

141.Which part of the digestive tract is typically associated with

the secretion of hydrochloric acid and pepsinogen?
Answer: Stomach.

142.What is the primary function of mucus secretion in the gut?

Answer: Lubrication and protection of the gut lining.
143.In what type of fish can you find pyloric caeca?
Answer: Near the pylorus, in various fish species.

144.What is the role of lipase in the digestive system?

Answer: To break down fats into fatty acids and glycerine.

145.What type of fish is known for having bile-activated wax

lipase?
Answer: Fish that prey on copepods.

146.How do fish primarily store fats?

Answer: Predominantly in the liver or muscle, depending on the
species.

147.What vitamins are stored in the liver of fishes?

Answer: Vitamins A and D.

148.What is the primary role of insulin in the pancreas?

Answer: Regulating blood sugar levels.
149.What is the primary function of cellulase in some fish?
Answer: Breaking down cellulose in plant materials.