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CHAPTER
20
Fish
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History of Fish
• Earliest evidence: Fossils from Ordovician
period (425 to 500 million years ago)
– Slow bottom dwellers with thick, bony plates/scales;
poorly developed fins; no jaws (Ostracoderms)
– Became extinct ~250 million years ago
• From Ostracoderms evolved two groups
– Placoderms: ~395 million years ago
– Acanthodians: ~410 million years ago
• From Acanthodians evolved class Osteichthyes
– Sarcopterygii subclass: Only two orders today
– Actinopterygii subclass: Now over 20,000 species in
34 orders
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Characteristics of Fish
• Cold-blooded vertebrates that breathe with gills and
move and balance with fins
• Most covered with scales
• Skin has other elements
– Glands that produce slimy mucus
– Chromatophores that give fish colors
– Sensory receptors
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Long, folded heart with two chambers
Spherical eyes with no eyelids
Inner ears and taste buds
Digestive system according to diet
Most bony fish have swim bladders
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Orders of Ray-Finned Fish
• Cypriniformes (characins, gymnotid eels,
loaches, minnows, suckers)
• Siluriformes (catfish)
• Atheriniformes (flying fish, half beaks, killifish,
needle fish)
• Perciformes (cardinal fish, glassfish, and
related fish)
• Tetraodontiformes (box fish, ocean sunfish,
puffers, triggerfish)
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Orders of Ray-Finned Fish (cont.)
• Scorpaeniformes (scorpion fish, sculpins)
• Gasterosteiformes (pipefish, sea horses,
sticklebacks, trumpetfish)
• Mormyriformes (mormyrids)
• Osteoglossiformes (bony tongues, freshwater
butterfly fish, mooneyes)
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Major Families of Order Cypriniformes,
Suborder Characoidei
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Characidae (tetras and characins)
Gasteropelecidae (hatchet fish)
Anostomidae (headstanders)
Hemiodontidae (pencil fish)
Citharinidae (moon fish)
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Major Families of Order Cypriniformes,
Suborder Cyprinoidei
• Cyprinidae (minnows and carps)
• Gyrinocheilidae (algae eaters)
• Cobitidae (loaches)
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Major Families of Order Siluriformes
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Siluridae (glass catfish)
Schilbeidae (three-striped glass catfish)
Mochokidae (upside-down catfish)
Pimelodidae (unarmored catfish)
Callichthyidae (armored catfish)
Loricariidae (sucker catfish)
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Classification of Order Atheriniformes
• Suborder Exocoetoidei
– Family Exocoetidae (halfbeaks and flying fish)
• Suborder Cyprinodontoidei
– Family Cyprinodontidae (killifish or egg-laying
tooth carps)
– Family Anablepidae (four-eyed fish)
– Family Poeciliidae (live-bearers or viviparous
top minnows)
• Suborder Atherinoidei
– Family Atherinidae (rainbow fish or silversides)
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Suborders of Order Perciformes
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Percoidei
Blennioidei
Mastacembeloidei
Anabantoidei
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Major Families of Suborder Percoidei
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Apogonidae (cardinalfish)
Centropomidae (snooks, robalos, and glassfish)
Grammidae (basslets)
Nandidae (leaf fish)
Cichlidae (cichlids)
Pomacentridae (damsel fish, anemone fish)
Monodactylidae (fingerfish)
Toxotidae (archer fish)
Platacidae (bat fish)
Scatophagidae (scats)
Chaetodontidae (butterfly fish)
Labridae (wrasses)
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Major Families of Suborder Blennioidei
• Acanthuridae (surgeons, tangs, and
unicorn fish)
• Family — Zanclidae (Moorish Idol)
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Major Family of Suborder
Mastacembeloidei
• Mastacembelidae (spiny eels)
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Major Families of Suborder
Anabantoidei
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Anabantidae (climbing perch)
Helostomatidae (kissing gourami)
Belontiidae (fighting fish and paradise fish)
Osphronemidae (gourami)
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Classification of Order
Tetraodontiformes
• Group of saltwater species called triggerfish
– Three dorsal spines, second locks upright into the first
– Found throughout the world
– Widely varied colors, patterns, and shapes
• Common species
– Undulate or orange-green triggerfish (Balistapus undulatus)
– Picasso or white-barred triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus)
• Can be kept in community aquariums but may be
aggressive to smaller fish
• Maintain water temperature at ~75°F
• Feed on chopped meat, shellfish, meat-based
sflake foods
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Classification of Order
Scorpaeniformes
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Made of lion fish (dragon or turkey fish)
About 14” long
Native to Indo-Pacific and Red seas
Primarily reddish-brown with numerous white
bands encircling the body
Long fin rays, poisonous spiny ray
Feeds on live fish or chopped meats,
voracious appetite
Maintain water temperature at ~77°F
Can be kept in community aquarium with fish of
equal size
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Classification of Order Gasterosteoidei
• Made of sea horses
• Vary from black to yellow
– Yellow or oceanic sea horse: About 2” long, native to
Indo-Pacific marine waters
• Have hard body covering, no caudal or anal fins
• Swim in vertical position
– Prehensile tail anchors to plants and coral
• Fairly difficult to keep
– House in species aquariums
– Maintain water temperature at 77°F
• Feed on live foods
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Classification of Order Mormyriformes
• Contains mormyrs and elephant-snout fish
• Long-nosed elephant-snout fish (Gnathonemus petersi)
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Native to dark, turbid fresh waters of Africa
Grows to 9” long
Dark brown-black with a violet iridescence
Two yellowish-white, irregular, vertical stripes between dorsal
and anal fins
– Dorsal, anal, and caudal fins edged with white
– Lower lip is tool for digging for food on stream bottom
– Emit electrical field around body for movement in darkness
• Will adapt to community aquarium with dark, secluded
hiding places
• Maintain water temperature at 75°F
• Feed on insects, insect larvae, and worms
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Classification of Order
Osteoglossiformes
• Made of fish with long anal fins and reduced or
no dorsal fins (often called knife fish)
• Move by undulation of long anal fin
• African knife fish (Xenomystus nigri)
– Grows about 8” long
– Primarily light brown with lighter underside
– Occasionally rises to surface to swallow
atmospheric air
– Is peaceful and can be kept in community aquarium
with other peaceful fish, dark areas, and vegetation
• Maintain water temperature at ~79°F
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Desired Qualities of Fish Aquariums
• Can be made of glass, Plexiglas, acrylic
• Size requirements
– Tropical freshwater: Maximum 1” of fish/every 10 square inches of
surface area
– Cold freshwater: Maximum 1” of fish/every 30 square inches of
surface area
– Marine: Maximum 1” of fish/every 48 square inches of surface area
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Location free of drafts, out of direct sunlight, with level surface
Filters/air pumps for dissolved oxygen
Other filter for waste removal
Chemical/biological filters
Protein skimmer
Water heater/thermometer
Lighting
Decorative items
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Feeding Methods for Fish
• Diet according to feeding approach
– Small and large fish: Flake foods from fish, fish eggs, wheat, and
vegetables and usually added vitamins and minerals
– Middle feeders: Small pellets that skin slowly
– Large top feeders: Floating fish sticks
– Bottom feeders: Sinking pellets
• Supplement with other foods
– Can feed live foods (water fleas, earthworms, flies, maggots,
wood lice)
– Supplement with vegetables (chopped or shredded lettuce,
chopped spinach leaves, canned peas)
– Minced or chopped meat for carnivorous fish
• Feed small amounts 2 to 3 times daily
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Fish Diseases and Ailments
• Parasites
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White spot
Slime disease
Hole-in-the-head
Velvet disease
White fungus growth
Flukes
Anchor worms
Fish lice
• Bacterial diseases
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Finrot
Mouth fungus
Neon disease
Tuberculosis
Pseudomonas and Aeromonas
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Fish Reproduction
• Via internal or external fertilization
• Egg layers
– Egg-scatterers
– Egg-buryers
– Egg-depositors
– Mouth-brooders
– Nest-builders
• Live bearers
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