Fish
Fish, any of approximately
34,000 species of vertebrate animals (phylum Chordata)
found in the fresh and salt waters of the world. Living
species range from the primitive
jawless lampreys and hagfishes through the
cartilaginous sharks, skates, and rays to the abundant
and diverse bony fishes. Most fish species are cold-blooded;
however, one species, the opah (Lampris guttatus), is warm-
blooded.
The term fish is applied to a variety of vertebrates of several
evolutionary lines. It describes a life-form rather than a
taxonomic group. As members of the phylum Chordata, fish
share certain features with other vertebrates. These features
are gill slits at some point in the life cycle, a notochord, or
skeletal supporting rod, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, and
a tail. Living fishes represent some five classes, which are as
distinct from one another as are the four classes of familiar
air-breathing animals—amphibians, reptiles, birds,
and mammals. For example, the jawless fishes (Agnatha)
have gills in pouches and lack limb
girdles. Extant agnathans are the lampreys and
the hagfishes. As the name implies, the skeletons of fishes of
the class Chondrichthyes (from chondr, “cartilage,”
and ichthyes, “fish”) are made entirely of cartilage. Modern
fish of this class lack a swim bladder, and their scales and
teeth are made up of the same placoid
material. Sharks, skates, and rays are examples of
cartilaginous fishes. The bony fishes are by far the largest
class. Examples range from the tiny sea horse to the 450-kg
(1,000-pound) blue marlin, from the
flattened soles and flounders to the boxy puffers and ocean
sunfishes. Unlike the scales of the cartilaginous fishes, those
of bony fishes, when present, grow throughout life and are
made up of thin overlapping plates of bone. Bony fishes also
have an operculum that covers the gill slits.
lamprey
Lamprey (Lampetra) on rainbow trout.
Oxford Scientific Films/Bruce Coleman Ltd.
tiger shark
Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier).
© Ian Scott/Shutterstock.com
The study of fishes, the science of ichthyology, is of broad
importance. Fishes are of interest to humans for many
reasons, the most important being their relationship with
and dependence on the environment. A more obvious reason
for interest in fishes is their role as a moderate but
important part of the world’s food supply. This resource,
once thought unlimited, is now realized to be finite and in
delicate balance with the biological, chemical, and physical
factors of the aquatic environment. Overfishing, pollution,
and alteration of the environment are the chief enemies of
proper fisheries management, both in fresh waters and in
the ocean. (For a detailed discussion of the technology and
economics of fisheries, see commercial fishing.) Another
practical reason for studying fishes is their use
in disease control. As predators on mosquito larvae, they
help curb malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.
commercial fishermen
Landing a fish catch in the harbour of Esbjerg, Denmark.
Wedigo Ferchland
opah (Lampris guttatus)
The warm-bloodedness of the opah (Lampris guttatus) results from a heat exchange
system in the fish's gills. Heat generated by muscle movement is transported in
deoxygenated blood to the gills, which distribute the heat to oxygenated blood, which
is then pumped by the heart to the rest of the fish's body.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Fishes are valuable laboratory animals in many aspects
of medical and biological research. For example, the
readiness of many fishes to acclimate to captivity has
allowed biologists to study behaviour, physiology, and
even ecology under relatively natural conditions. Fishes have
been especially important in the study of animal behaviour,
where research on fishes has provided a broad base for the
understanding of the more flexible behaviour of the
higher vertebrates. The zebra fish is used as a model in
studies of gene expression.
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There are aesthetic and recreational reasons for an interest
in fishes. Millions of people keep live fishes in
home aquariums for the simple pleasure of observing the
beauty and behaviour of animals otherwise unfamiliar to
them. Aquarium fishes provide a personal challenge to many
aquarists, allowing them to test their ability to keep a small
section of the natural environment in their
homes. Sportfishing is another way of enjoying the natural
environment, also indulged in by millions of people every
year. Interest in aquarium fishes and sportfishing supports
multimillion-dollar industries throughout the world.
harlequin fish
Harlequin fish (Rasbora heteromorpha).
Gene Wolfsheimer
pencil fish
Pencil fish (Anostomus anostomus).
Gene Wolfsheimer
General features
Structural diversity
Fishes have been in existence for more than 450 million
years, during which time they have evolved repeatedly to fit
into almost every conceivable type of aquatic habitat. In a
sense, land vertebrates are simply highly modified fishes:
when fishes colonized the land habitat, they
became tetrapod (four-legged) land vertebrates. The
popular conception of a fish as a slippery, streamlined
aquatic animal that possesses fins and breathes
by gills applies to many fishes, but far more fishes deviate
from that conception than conform to it. For example, the
body is elongate in many forms and greatly shortened in
others; the body is flattened in some (principally in bottom-
dwelling fishes) and laterally compressed in many others;
the fins may be elaborately extended, forming intricate
shapes, or they may be reduced or even lost; and the
positions of the mouth, eyes, nostrils, and gill openings vary
widely. Air breathers have appeared in several evolutionary
lines.
oyster toadfish
Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau).
Roman Vishniac Archive, International Center of Photography, New York,
courtesy of Mara Vishniac Kohn
Many fishes are cryptically coloured and shaped, closely
matching their respective environments; others are among
the most brilliantly coloured of all organisms, with a wide
range of hues, often of striking intensity, on a single
individual. The brilliance of pigments may be enhanced by
the surface structure of the fish, so that it almost seems to
glow. A number of unrelated fishes have actual light-
producing organs. Many fishes are able to alter
their coloration—some for the purpose of camouflage, others
for the enhancement of behavioral signals.
Fishes range in adult length from less than 10 mm (0.4 inch)
to more than 20 metres (60 feet) and in weight from about
1.5 grams (less than 0.06 ounce) to many thousands of
kilograms. Some live in shallow thermal springs
at temperatures slightly above 42 °C (100 °F), others in cold
Arctic seas a few degrees below 0 °C (32 °F) or in cold deep
waters more than 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) beneath the
ocean surface. The structural and, especially, the
physiological adaptations for life at such extremes are
relatively poorly known and provide the scientifically curious
with great incentive for study
