Marine Fishes

Classification of Fishes
 Marine Fish
• Marine fish are vertebrates
• Some have vertebra made of cartilage,
while others have bony vertebra
• Of the 24,000 known species of fish, about
15,000 species are marine
• Fish are the oldest of vertebrates (found
farther back in the fossil record)
• Fish are by far the largest group of
vertebrates in terms of species and
abundance
• About half of all vertebrate species are fish
 Types of Marine Fish
1. Agnatha (jawless fish)
• Hagfish
• Lampreys
2. Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish)
• Sharks
• Skates
• Rays
• ratfish
3. Osteichthyes (bony fish)
• Lobe-finned fishes
• Ray-finned fishes
 Types of Marine Fish
• Agnatha
– These jawless fish have a muscular, circular
mouth with rows of teeth in rings
– Long, cylindrical body
– Lack paired fins and scales seen in other fish
– Two types of jawless fish exist- hagfish and
lampreys
 Types of Marine Fish

• Hagfishes
– 20 species
– Exclusively marine
– They feed on dead and dying fish and
marine mammals primarily
– Live in burrows in soft sediments
– Produce large quantities of mucous from
glands in the skin to protect them while
feeding
 Types of Marine Fish
• Lamprey
– 30 species
– Live in freshwater and salt water
– Adults of some species spend a large portion of
their life in the sea, but return to freshwater to
breed; adults normally die after breeding.
– Other species live in freshwater lakes
– They feed on living fish by rasping into the
sides of fish with their sucker-like mouth and
consuming blood, tissue and body fluids.
More Advanced Groups of
Fish
• Fishes in the Chondrichthyes and
Osteichthyes are considered to be more
advanced.
• General Characteristics (advancements)
seen in these groups:
– Highly efficient gills
– Scales cover the body
– Paired fins
– A wide variety of jaw and feeding types
– Lateral line and other sensory organs
– Streamlined body
 External Anatomy of More
Advanced Fish Groups
• These representative fish show the position of
fins in cartilaginous and bony fish.
 Types of Marine Fish
• Chondrichthyes
• General Characteristics of Group:
– About 1000 species
– Sharks, rays, skates and ratfishes are members of this
group
– Skeleton of cartilage (as the name implies)
– Movable jaws with well-developed teeth
– Placoid scales and paired fins
– 5-7 gill slits open directly into the water in most species
– Spiracles in many species (openings on head used to
bring water directly in for respiration without opening
the mouth)
– Males in most species have projections of the anal fin
called claspers that are used in copulation
 Types of Marine Fish
• More specific details about Sharks
– Primarily marine, but do travel up the mouths of
rivers into freshwater in some species
– The population numbers in many species of
sharks are declining due to harvesting sharks for
meat, oil, skin and fins
– In addition to the lateral line, sharks have a
sensory organ called the Organ of Lorenzini; this
organ is used to detect electrical currents when
sharks are close to an object (the movement of
muscles – even those used in respiration – emit
a small electrical charge) – this allows sharks to
detect living prey even it is hidden from their
view if they can get within a few feet of the
organism
 Types of Marine Fish
More specific details about Sharks

– Most species possess 2 dorsal fins

– Reproduction in sharks is varied – some have
live birth (known as vivipary); some lay egg
cases (ovipary); while others have an
internalized egg that hatches while still in the
female before the young are expelled from the
female’s reproductive system (ovovivipary)
– Many are carnivorous, some planktonic
– About 350 species currently exist
 Types of Marine Fish
• More specific details about Rays
– Rays always have live birth
– Pectoral fins are expanded into “wings” and entire body is
dorsoventrally flattened
– Gill slits (5 pairs) mouth are on the underside of the body
– Spiracles are located on the top of the body
– Rays spend much of their time on the bottom (demersal)
partially covered in sand
– Large flattened teeth for feeding on molluscs and
arthropods
– Most have long whip-like tails; in sting rays, there is a
spine at the base of the tail with an associated poison
gland
– Venom from this gland is delivered to other organisms if
they make contact with this spine by stepping on a ray or
making contact with the ray in some fashion
– Electric rays have organs that produce electricity on
 Types of Marine Fish
• More specific details about Skates
– Like rays, skates are dorsoventrally flattened with
pectoral fins modified into wings
– Unlike rays, skates have a fleshy tail and no spine on the
tail
– Also unlike rays, skates always lay egg cases
– After fertilization, the female lays egg cases with an
embryo inside
– The embryo develops within the protection of the egg
case for weeks to months
– They are also demersal and feed on molluscs and
arthropods primarily
 Types of Marine Fish
• More specific details about Ratfishes
– Only about 30 species
– Mostly are deep water inhabitant
– One pair of gill slits is covered by a flap of
skin (very unusually in the chondrichthyes)
– They feed on the bottom on crustaceans and
molluscs primarily
– Heterocercal tail like in sharks
– Unlike others in this group, they also have fin
rays (tiny support rods) in the fins
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– As the name implies, these fish have a
skeleton composed of bone
– More species that all other vertebrates
combined- over 23, 000 species worldwide
– Gills used for respiration
– Hinged jaws allow for a variety of different
ways of feeding
– Homocercal tail (two lobes of equal size)
provides forward thrust
 Types of Marine Fish
Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Flat bony scales (ctenoid or cycloid) protect
body
– Bony operculum covers the gills (provides better
protection against injury compared to gill slits for
each gill)
– Lateral line used in sensory capacity and
communication
– Swim bladder used for buoyancy control (some
bottom dwelling fish lack swim bladder)
– Variable body plans are adapted for specific
environments
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Coloration patterns:
– Countershading is seen in virtually all fish species
– In countershading, the ventral (belly) area of the
fish is lighter than the dorsal area of the fish
– This allows the fish to “blend in” with the
environment
– If a fish is seen from above, the darker coloration
of the dorsal area blends in with the darker color
of the ocean bottom
– If the fish is seen from below, the lighter
coloration of the ventral surface blends in with the
lighter coloration of the ocean surface
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Coloration patterns:
– Slower swimming fish often have bars or
stripes that help break up the silhouette of a
fish (a form of disruptive coloration)
– This helps with predator avoidance
– Some also have coloration that helps them
blend in with environment (known as cryptic
coloration)
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Coloration Patterns:
– It is also not usually to see a fish with circular
patterns on or near the caudal fin
– This confuses predators who are not sure which end
of the fish is the head
– If the fish at right is attacked on caudal end where
the black dot looks like an eye, he can probably get
away with minor damage
– However, if he is attacked on his head region, he
may sustain serious, life threatening damage
– Some fishes may also use color to advertise their
bad taste or poisonous nature – this is known as
warning coloration
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Body shapes vary greatly among fish
dependent on the environment that fish
calls home
– For example, flounders and soles live on
the bottom and cover themselves
slightly with sand to camouflage
themselves from potential predators as
well as prey
– The flat shape of the flounders and soles
is well adapted to this lifestyle
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Body shapes, continued
– Tuna, billfish, and other fast moving predators
are long, streamlined and most of their fins
serve as rudders basically (very little flexibility
except in caudal fin)
– This body shape allows these predators to cut
through the water quickly
– Notice, too, that the area of the body called the
caudal peduncle (area just before the tail) is
very thin – this allows all the muscles to
concentrate in this area allowing for greater
thrust of the caudal (tail) fin (this means FAST
swimming capabilities)
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Body shapes, continued
– By contrast, the angelfish represents the
opposite environment
– Angelfish and many other fish do not inhabit the
open waters of the ocean like tunas and billfish
do
– Angelfish and the like inhabit coral reefs, oyster
reefs and other similar environments
– In these fish, the body is not as streamlined and
the fins are feather-like for lots of flexibility
– This flexibility allows for greater control around
the features that would be seen in a coral reef
type environment (crevices, etc)
 Types of Marine Fish
• Osteichthyes, The Bony Fish
– Body shapes, continued
– Other fish have a shape that allows for
camouflage in their environment
– For example, fish like the toadfish and
the stonefish actually look like rocks or
“scenery” and thus can go undetected
by predators or prey
 Swimming Patterns

• Fish exhibit an “s-shaped” swimming

pattern
• Bands of muscle along the body
called myomeres drive this
swimming motion
• Depending on the type of fish,
different fins may be used primarily
for the forward movement
 Swimming Patterns
• In sharks, a swim bladder is absent
(although there is a large lipid-rich
liver to help in buoyancy) – therefore,
sharks tend to sink when not in
motion and there is no lift from the
swim bladder while swimming either
• While swimming, sharks are aided by
the “lift” provided by the position
and stiffness of the pectoral fins
 Swimming Patterns
• In bony fish, pectoral fins are not needed
for lift and thus are normally not stiff in
construction (exception: fast swimming
species like tuna, billfish, etc)
• In contrast, the pectoral fins in many bony
fins are flexible and used for
maneuverability
• In some slower-swimming species, forward
movement is mainly provided primarily by
the pectoral fins
 Swimming Patterns
• In other species, all the fins may be flexible and
highly modified for camouflage (example: sea
horses and sea dragons)
• This means that the fins will not allow for
significant forward movement
 Fish Gills
• The construction of the gill is the same in all fish –
gill arch supports the entire structure, gill rakers
are on the forward surface of the gill arch and gill
filaments trail behind the gill arch
• Like in the human lung, exchange of oxygen and
carbon dioxide takes place on these surfaces
 Acquiring and Processing
Food
• Mouth structure also reveals the dietary
preferences of fish
• As an example, the “beak” (fused teeth)
seen in parrotfish allows for these fish to
scrape algae and other organisms off of
hard surfaces
• The butterfly fish uses its long tube-like
mouth to feed on corals
• While the barracuda uses rows of sharp
teeth and a wide mouth to capture its prey
– other fish
Acquiring and Processing
Food
• The position of the mouth is also
important
• A strongly forward facing mouth is
important in fish who chase down
their prey (as seen in barracuda)
• A downward facing mouth would be
seen in fish feeding at/near the
bottom
Acquiring and Processing
Food
• Digestion of food in fish is completed
with the aid of a stomach, intestine (with
anus), liver, pyloric caeca and pancreas
• The stomach is structured very similarly
to the human stomach – stretch
receptors in the wall of the stomach
indicate when a meal is present and
needs to be mechanically digested by
the churning motion of the stomach wall
Acquiring and Processing
Food
• The intestine, pyloric caeca, pancreas and
liver all secrete digestive enzymes to aid
in the digestion process
• The intestines of carnivorous fish tend to
be short and straight while the intestines
of herbivorous fish are longer and more
coiled (plant and algae material is more
difficult to process, so it needs to stay in
the intestines longer)
 The Circulatory System
• Fish have a two chambered heart that
serves to pump blood throughout the body
(in contrast to the 4 chambered heart seen
in mammals)
• A system of arteries, veins and capillaries
takes blood to the body tissues and returns
it for re-oxygenation by the gill filaments
• Oxygen and carbon dioxide will diffuse
across the thin membranes of the
capillaries either in the gills or at the
tissues of the body
 Fluid Balance in Fish
• Remember that the forces of osmosis and
diffusion are always at work in an organism
• Solutes and gases will travel from areas
where they are more concentrated to areas
where they are less concentrated
• Since marine fish are living in an environment
where the water is very solute-rich, these fish
have a tendency to gain solutes and lose
water
• Therefore, fish need to have mechanisms to
combat this issue – this is called
osmoregulation
 Fluid Balance in Fish
• Osmoregulation is the term given to the
process of managing internal water/solute
balance
• Fish have evolved a variety of ways to
osmoregulate including:
– Many fish swallow seawater but them expel the
solutes in the digestive process (this allows
them to keep the water and lose the solutes)
– Most marine fish pass very little urine
– This urine (processed by the kidneys) is highly
concentrated with solutes with very little water
content
 Fluid Balance in Fish

• Osmoregulation continued:
– In cartilaginous fish, the blood is kept at
about the same concentration as seawater
– This is accomplished by keeping urea in
the bloodstream (this toxin is filtered out of
the blood by other organisms)
– This means that no solutes are gained (or
water lost) because the concentration
internally and externally match
 The Fish Nervous System
• The fish have a brain, spinal cord and numerous
nerves like other vertebrates
• Fish also possess olfactory sacs (with nostrils) for
smelling
• Taste buds are located in the mouth, lips, barbels
and skin
• The eyes are structured slightly differently
• In humans, the lens changes shape for focusing
on items
• In fish, the position of the lens changes like in a
camera
 The Fish Nervous System

• In some sharks, the eye is covered

by a nictitating membrane that
covers the eye – this clear
membrane helps these predators
protect the eye, especially during
feeding
• Incidentally, this membrane is also
seen in some reptiles
 The Fish Nervous System
• All fish rely heavily on the lateral line
system
• The lateral line is a series of pores and
canals lined with cells called neuromasts
that are specialized to detect vibrations
• These vibrations can indicate a predator or
prey or the position of other fish in a
school
 The Fish Nervous System

• Cartilaginous fish also possess the

organ (or ampulla) of Lorenzini
• This organ detects electrical charges
• All muscular system of organisms
relies on small electrical charges
• Therefore, this organ can help
cartilaginous fish detect prey, even if
they are not visible (buried in sand,
etc)
 The Fish Nervous System

• The inner ears are set in fluid-filled

canals with sensory cells similar to
the lateral line system.
 Behaviors in Fish
• Schooling
– Schooling is used by a wide variety of fish
– Schooling makes it possible for a group of
smaller fish to appear much larger (as thus
avoid detection by predators
– It also makes it harder for a predator to
capture any one fish
– Because of this, many fish school as
juveniles
– About 4000 species school as adults
 Behaviors in Fish

• Territoriality
– Some fish are territorial by nature all the
time, others are only territorial during
reproduction
– Fish maintain their territories normally by
“posturing” to show their aggression
– Posturing can include raised fins, open
mouth, darting, etc.
– Fights between individuals are actually rare
 Behaviors in Fish
• Some species migrate between freshwater
and saltwater at different times in their life
• Anadromous species like salmon, lampreys
and sturgeon live in saltwater normally but
go to freshwater for reproductive purposes
• Catadromous species like the American
Eel live in freshwater but travel to
saltwater for reproduction
 Reproduction in Fish
• Sex hormones control the development of
sperm and eggs in fish
• The release of sex hormones can be cued
by water temperature, day length, specific
tide cycles, etc.
• Broadcast spawning (releases eggs and
sperm directly into water for fertilization) is
most common
• Some fish do have internal fertilization
(sperm is inserted directly into the female
by the male)
• Complex mating behaviors are seen in
some species
 Reproduction in Fish
• Some fish are hermaphroditic
(possess male and female
reproductive organs)
• Some possess these structures at the
same time (simultaneous
hermaphrodites)- this is more rare
• Other species possess these
structures at different times during
the life (sequential hermaphrodites)
 Reproduction in Fish
• Types of Sequential Hermaphrodites
– In protandry, fish are first males and develop into
females later in life
– In protogyny, fish are first females and develop
into males later in life
– The cues for these changes are often the result
of changes in social structure or environment
– As an example, in some species, a large male
keeps a “harem” of females and he fertilizes the
eggs of all
– When this male dies, the largest female develops
into a functional male
 Reproduction in Fish
• Depending on the species, fish can either be:
– Viviparous – young are born live
– Oviparous- egg layers
– Ovoviviparous – eggs are kept inside and “hatch” before
being released from female reproductive tract
– In most bony fish, eggs are laid by the thousands or millions
and are not protected by the parents
– In other bony fish, smaller numbers of eggs are laid and the
parent(s) protect the eggs
– RARE: A few species are parthenogenic- in this reproductive
plan, young develop directly from the unfertilized eggs of the
female (no DNA from males) – the young are “clones” of the
female
 Reproduction in Fish

• In most fish, intricate behaviors are

cues for the release of eggs and
sperm (this helps ensure fertilization)
• In some species, color changes or
body structure changes may indicate
readiness for reproduction
 Most Important
Characteristics of Marine
Fish