Class7-9 Outline

Diversity of Fishes

Class 7-9; MI
 Fish and Fisheries
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 Believe it or Not!
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 Catfish have over  What is the

27,000 taste buds, loudest fish?
whereas humans
have only 9,000. The answer is, the croaker.

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 The amazing Spotted  Did you know,

Climbing Perch is able American Lobsters
to 'gulp' oxygen from have longer life spans
the air and can crawl than both cats and
over land using its dogs, living over 20
strong pectoral fins in years.
search of water.

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 What percentage of a
fish's size is made up of
brain? Fish typically have
quite small brains relative
to body size compared
with other vertebrates,
typically one-fifteenth the
brain mass of a similarly
sized bird or mammal.
Which kind of fish can live in
the coldest temperatures? The
answer is the Antarctic ice
fish, which have antifreeze in
their blood, live permanently at
-1°C to -2°C .

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It was not until 1853 in London, UK,

when aeration and filtration of water
was understood, that people were able
to keep fish as indoor pets.

 Did you know that fish

have a specialised
sense organ called
their lateral line, which
works much like radar
and helps them
navigate in dark or
murky water?

Class 7-9; MI
 Diversity of fishes

How many vertebrate and fish species, worldwide?

• Fishes make up more than half of the 55,000 species of living
vertebrates.
• Numerically, valid scientific descriptions exist for approximately 27,977
living species of fishes in 515 families and 62 orders (Nelson 2006).
• Of these, 108 are jawless fishes (70 hagfishes and 38 lampreys); 970 are
cartilaginous sharks (403), skates and rays (534), and chimaeras (33);
and the remaining 26,000+ species are bony fishes.

• 41% of species live in freshwater

• 58% in sea water
• 1% move between fresh water and the sea during their life cycles
(Cohen 1970)

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 Diversity of fishes

• Geographically, the highest diversities are found in

the tropics.
• The Indo-West Pacific area that includes the
western Pacific and Indian oceans and the Red Sea
has the highest diversity for a marine area, whereas
South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, in that
order, contain the most freshwater fishes.
• Smallest fish:
 parasitic males of a deepsea anglerfish Photocorynus
spiniceps mature at 6.2 mm

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 Diversity of fishes
• The world’s longest cartilaginous fish
• is the 12 m long (or longer) Whale Shark Rhincodon
typus,

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 Diversity of fishes

• Whereas the longest bony fish

• is the 8 m long (or longer) Oarfish Regalecus glesne

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 Diversity of fishes

• Body masses
• top out at 34,000 kg for whale sharks and
• 2300 kg for the Ocean Sunfish Mola mola

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 Diversity of fishes

• Coelacanths, were thought to have died out

with the dinosaurs a 65 million years ago.
However, in 1938, fishermen in South Africa
trawled up a very live Coelacanth. They are
called living fossils.
• Lungfishes can live in a state of dry “suspended
animation” for up to 4 years, becoming
dormant when their ponds dry up and reviving
quickly when immersed in water.
• Antarctic fishes live in water that is colder than
the freezing point of their blood. The fishes
keep from freezing by avoiding free ice and
because their blood contains antifreeze
proteins that depress their blood’s freezing
point to −2°C.
• Some Antarctic fishes have no haemoglobin.
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Diversity of fishes

• Deepsea fishes include many forms

that can swallow prey larger than
themselves.
• Some deepsea anglerfishes are
characterized by females that are 10
times larger than males, the males
existing as small parasites
permanently fused to the side of the
female, living off her blood stream.
• Fishes grow throughout their lives,
changing their ecological role
several times.
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 Diversity of fishes

• How long does fish live?

• Fishes have maximum life spans of as little as 10 weeks
(African killifishes and Great Barrier Reef pygmy gobies)
and as long as 150 years (sturgeons and scorpaenid
rockfishes)
• Longer lived species may not begin reproducing until
they are 20 years old, and then only at 5+ year
intervals.
• Sex change is common among fishes. Some species are
simultaneously male and female, whereas others
change from male to female, or from female to male.

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1) Most fish reproduce by laying eggs, though some fish, such as great white sharks,
give birth to live babies called pups.[4]
2) Lungfish can live out of water for several years. It secretes a mucus cocoon and
burrows itself under the unbaked earth. It takes in air with its lung through a built-in
breathing tube that leads to the surface. A lungfish has both gills and a lung.[4]
3) Some fish, such as the great white shark, can raise their body temperature. This helps
them hunt for prey in cold water.[5]
4) Fish use a variety of low-pitched sounds to convey messages to each other. They
moan, grunt, croak, boom, hiss, whistle, creak, shriek, and wail. They rattle their bones
and gnash their teeth. However, fish do not have vocal chords. They use other parts of
their bodies to make noises, such as vibrating muscles against their swim bladder.[1]
5) Fish can form schools containing millions of fish. They use their eyes and something
called a lateral line to hold their places in the school. The lateral line is a row of pores
running along the fish’s sides from head to tail. Special hairs in the pores sense
changes in water pressure from the movements of other fish or predators.[5]

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1) Since a fish’s jaw is not attached to its skull, many fishes can shoot
their mouths forward like a spring to catch startled prey.[1]
2) Electric eels and electric rays have enough electricity to kill a horse.[3]
3) Sharks are the only fish that have eyelids.[3]
4) Fish have sleep-like periods where they have lowered response to
stimuli, slowed physical activity, and reduced metabolism but they do
not share the same changes in brain waves as humans do when they
sleep.[4]
5) Some fish, such as the herbivorous fish (grazers), often lack jaw
teeth but have tooth-like grinding mills in their throats called
pharyngeal teeth.[6]
6) Most fish have taste buds all over their body.[6]

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1) An estimated one third of male fish in British waters are changing sex due to
pollution in human sewage.[7]
2) The oldest fishhook ever found dates back to about 42,000 years ago.[2]
3) Most fish have little salt in them. Sharks, however, have meat as salty as the
ocean they live in.[5]
4) Most brands of lipstick contain fish scales.[5]
5) A fish does not add new scales as it grows, but the scales it has increase in
size. In this way, growth rings are formed and the rings reveal the age of a fish.
[4]

6) Fish that have thin fins with a split tail indicate that they move very quickly or
may need them to cover great distances. On the other hand, fish that live
among rocks and reefs near the ocean floor have broad lateral fin and large
tails. [5]

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1) A fish can drown in water. Like humans, fish need

oxygen, so if there isn’t enough oxygen in the water,
they will suffocate.[5]
2) The most poisonous fish in the world is the stone fish.
Its sting can cause shock, paralysis, and even death if
not treated within a few hours.[6]
3) The word “piranha” is from the Tupi (Brazil) pira
nya and means “scissors.” Found in freshwater rivers
in South America, piranhas have razor-sharp teeth.
They typically eat fish, insects, seeds, fruit, and even
larger animals such as horses. While there are no
proven reports of piranhas killing a person, they do eat
human carcasses.[5]

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1) The fastest fish is the sailfish. It can swim as fast as a car

travels on the highway.[4]
2) Seahorses are the only fish that swim upright.[1]
3) The slowest fish is a seahorse. It swims so slowly that a
person can barely tell it is moving. The slowest is the Dwarf
Seahorse, which takes about one hour to travel five feet. It
even looks like it is simply standing up, not swimming.[4]
4) In Japan, the fugu, or puffer fish, is a succulent but lethal
delicacy. It contains tetrodotoxin, a deadly poison. However,
it is so delicious that Japanese gourmets risk their lives to
prepare it. To make this high-risk dish, chefs must have a
certificate from a special school that teaches preparation of
this toxic fish.[6]

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1) Some desert pupfish can live in hot springs that reach

temperatures greater than 45°C.[5]
2) There are approximately 32,000 different kinds of fish in
the world today, which is more than all the other kinds of
vertebrates combined.
3) The batfish plays dead when danger is near. It floats
motionless on its side when scared, making it look like a
dead leaf floating on the surface of the water.[4]
4) Anableps, four-eyed fish, can see above and below water at
the same time.[4]
5) Male anglerfish are much smaller than the female. While the
female can reach up to 24 inches long, the males barely
reach 1.6 inches long and live as parasites on their mates.
They stay together for life. As the male ages, he gets smaller
and smaller. The female anglerfish’s light is always “on.”[3]

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1. Unlike bony fish, sharks and rays do not have swim

bladders. They have to swim all the time, even when they
are sleeping. Otherwise, they will sink to the bottom of the
ocean.[5]
2. A seahorse can move each of its eyes separately. One eye can
look forward while the other looks backward. Seahorses can
also change their color to match their surroundings.[5]
3. Unlike most other fish, the ocean sunfish does not have a
tail. A female sunfish can lay 300 million eggs each year.
4. The freshwater Pygmy and Luzon gobies of the Philippines,
the saltwater Marshal Islands goby, and the tiny rice fish
from Thailand all reach a maximum length of 1/2", roughly
the size of a grain of rice. They are typically considered the
world’s smallest fishes.[3]

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 References
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 http://www.fao.org/3/i9540en/I9540EN.pdf
 https://www.factretriever.com/fun-fish-facts
 Gene S. Helfman, Bruce B. Collette, Douglas E.
Facey. 2009. The diversity of fishes (2nd Edition).
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, West Sussex,UK

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