fish

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(fĭsh) pronunciation
n., pl., fish, or fish·es.
  1. Any of numerous cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates of the superclass Pisces, characteristically having fins, gills, and a streamlined body and including specifically:
    1. Any of the class Osteichthyes, having a bony skeleton.
    2. Any of the class Chondrichthyes, having a cartilaginous skeleton and including the sharks, rays, and skates.
  2. The flesh of such animals used as food.
  3. Any of various primitive aquatic vertebrates of the class Cyclostomata, lacking jaws and including the lampreys and hagfishes.
  4. Any of various unrelated aquatic animals, such as a jellyfish, cuttlefish, or crayfish.
  5. Informal. A person, especially one considered deficient in something: a poor fish.

v., fished, fish·ing, fish·es.

v.intr.
  1. To catch or try to catch fish.
  2. To look for something by feeling one's way; grope: fished in both pockets for a coin.
  3. To seek something in a sly or indirect way: fish for compliments.
v.tr.
    1. To catch or try to catch (fish).
    2. To catch or try to catch fish in: fish mountain streams.
  1. To catch or pull as if fishing: deftly fished the corn out of the boiling water.
phrasal verb:

fish out

  1. To deplete (a lake, for example) of fish by fishing.

idioms:

fish in troubled waters

  1. To try to take advantage of a confused situation.
fish or cut bait Informal.
  1. To proceed with an activity or abandon it altogether.
like a fish out of water
  1. Completely unfamiliar with one's surroundings or activity.
neither fish nor fowl
  1. Having no specific characteristics; indefinite.
other fish to fry Informal.
  1. Other matters to attend to: He declined to come along to the movie, saying he had other fish to fry.

[Middle English, from Old English fisc.]



The plural form is normally fish (nets full of fish / They caught seven fish yesterday); but fishes is sometimes used to emphasize a plural rather than a collective concept and to denote kinds of fish: feed the fishes / food fishes like cod and flounder. In biblical allusions, fishes is used rather than fish: five loaves and two small fishes.

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Etapes_Poisson Ecaille/Poisson Ecailler

The overwhelming majority of fish are saltwater species; the rest are freshwater species. Fish can also be divided into three other groups: 

      • lean fish, which contain less than 5% fat

      • semifatty fish, which contain 5%-10% fat 

      • fatty fish, which contain more than 10% fat

Fish is a good source of protein, and fatty fish like salmon, tuna, sardines, herring, mackerel and lake trout are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which helps heart health.

As much as possible, avoid eating fish that live in polluted waters, as the flesh of some fish easily absorbs various very toxic substances, such as DDT (dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane), PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) and mercury.


Tips for buying fish

Whole fresh fish

      • The gills should be moist and bright red.
•
The eyes should be full, shiny and flush with the head.
•
The skin should be glistening, pearly, tight and adhere to the flesh.
•
The flesh should be firm and elastic; it should not be marked, retain finger impressions or separate easily from the bones.
•
The scales should cling to the skin, and be shiny and intact.
•
The belly should be neither swollen, nor dull, and should have a sweet and pleasant odor (a strong fish smell indicates lack of freshness).
•
A muddy smell can impregnate various fish, depending on where they live, but it does not mean that the fish is not fresh.

fresh fish Portion
•
Fillets (pieces of flesh cut from along the spine).
•
Steaks (thick cross-cuts) or pieces.
•
The flesh should be firm, elastic and shiny, it should cling well to the bones and have a pleasant smell. It should not be brown, yellow or dried out.
•
A defrosted fish will have a slightly different flavor and texture from a fresh fish. It should be eaten as soon as possible and should not be refrozen without being cooked beforehand.

Frozen fish

The flesh should have a fresh, firm and glistening appearance without evidence of drying or freezer burn. It should also be solidly frozen and enclosed in intact, watertight packaging, without frost or ice crystals on the inside.

Salt-cured fish 

The flesh should have a good color and pleasant smell, and not be dried out. 

Smoked fish 

The flesh should have a pleasant smell and must retain its juice.


Tips for storing fish

Wipe the fish well with a damp cloth, wrap in waxed paper and place in an airtight container in the fridge (2-3 days). 

Fish can also be cold- or hot-smoked. Cold-smoked fish is not cooked; it is not as fine or flavorful as hot-smoked fish. Hot-smoked fish and fish that is salt-dried then cold-smoked are eaten as is, whereas fish that is brined, then cold-smoked needs to be cooked before storing. Smoked and salt-cured fish keep for a few days in the fridge or 3-4 weeks in the freezer.
Freezing

Fish should always be cleaned before freezing and should be as fresh as possible. There are four possible methods:

Freezing in an ice block

Wash the fish in salted water (1 tablespoon/15 ml of salt per 4 cups/1 l of water), then place it in a container and cover with fresh water, up to 1 in. (2 cm) from the edge. Cover and freeze.

For steaks or fillets, remove the skin, rinse the fish under cold water, then put the slices or fillets in a container, separating them using a sheet of aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Cover them with water and freeze them as described above.

Freezing in layers of ice

Wash the fish, then freeze unwrapped. When it is frozen, plunge into ice water and return to 
the freezer. Repeat this process several times until the fish is covered in a layer of ice 1∕8 -¹∕5 in. (4-5 mm) thick, then wrap the fish airtight.

Lemon-flavored fish

Place the fish in a bowl containing lemon juice, moisten and turn the fish, repeat the process, then wrap and freeze.

Airtight-wrapped fish

Wash the fish, wrap carefully in food wrap and then in a freezer bag, taking care to expel all of the air. Freeze the fish quickly at a low temperature (0°F/-18°C or less).

Tips for preparing fish

Frozen fish

It is generally not necessary to defrost the fish before cooking; if it is thick, defrost it partly or completely so that it cooks as evenly on the inside as on the outside. Defrost the fish completely if it is to be grilled or fried.

To defrost a fish, place it in the fridge, in its original wrapping, for 18-24 hr (for 1 lb/500 g). Never defrost at room temperature; if time is short, place the fish in cold water (1-2 hr for 1 lb/500 g), but do not use hot water, as the fish will cook.
Fresh fish

You can ask the grocer to prepare fresh fish for you. It is not necessary to remove the head, as the eyes and cheeks are edible and keeping the head attached limits loss of juices during cooking.



Scaling

Scale the fish without gutting it, using a fish scaler, the back of a knife, a fork or a blunt knife (to avoid cutting yourself). Hold the fish firmly by the tail, then remove the scales by holding the scaling implement at 45 degrees and moving it along the fish toward the head. Scale the fish under a stream of water to prevent the scales from scattering. If the fish is going to be cooked with the skin on, avoid damaging it. Do not scale the fish if it will be skinned. 


Trimming

To trim the fish, cut the fins against their direction of growth. It is not necessary to remove the fins, particularly the back fins, which hold the flesh in place during cooking.

Gutting

The simplest way to gut a fish is through the belly. It can also be cleaned by making a small slice of 1/2-¾ in. (1-2 cm) near the gills and removing the insides with the index finger or a small spoon. The head can be cut at the base of the gills, then pushed gently toward the back. Large live fish (halibut, turbot, brill) must be bled before being cleaned. To do this, cut off the end of the fish near the tail.
Cleaning a fish THROUGH the belly

1 Make a slice from the anus to the gills using scissors.

2 Detach the guts and remove them.

3 Remove the gills.

4 Rinse the cavity and scrape the inside with a spoon.


Filleting

To avoid dirtying the flesh, wash the fish well under running water, working quickly after the fish has been gutted. If the stomach cavity is not open, force the water into it.
Filleting a round fish

1 Rest the fish on its side and cut along the middle of the back (down to the spinal column) from the tail to the base of the head.

2 Separate the flesh from the backbone from the tail to the head.

3 Remove the fillet from the head by cutting behind the gills.

4 Hold the end of the tail firmly; make a slice about ¾ in. (2 cm) from the tail and carefully detach the fillet from the skin using the knife. Turn the fish over and repeat the process for the second fillet. 

Filleting a flat fish

1 Start by cutting into the skin close to 
the tail.

2 Using a cloth, pull back the skin to 
the head.

3 Make a slice along the middle of the fish to divide the 2 fillets.

4 Insert the blade along the backbone and remove the fillet with a series of small cuts.

5 Detach the fillet from the lateral bones by making a slice along its length.

6 Turn the fish over and repeat the process to remove the other fillet. 4 fillets are obtained using this method.


Tips for cooking fish

Fish can be prepared in a multitude of ways: marinated, smoked, stuffed, cooked in a sauce, as a mousse, as quenelles (dumplings), pâtés, terrines and rolled around a filling. Allow about 1 lb (500 g) of fish per person for whole fish, 9 oz (250 g) per person for trimmed fish (cleaned and scaled with its fins, head and gills removed), and close to 7 oz (200 g) if using fillets or steaks.

Fish can be cooked whole (gutted), in pieces, steaks or fillets. Cooking time should be short to prevent the fish from becoming dry and bland. To estimate cooking time, measure the thickest part of the fish and allow for 5-7 min per 1/2 in. (1 cm) of thickness for fresh fish cooked in the oven at 425°F (220°C) or partly defrosted fish cooked in the oven at 450°F (230°C), and 
10-12 min per 1/2 in. (1 cm) of thickness for fish that is frozen solid.

The flesh is cooked when it becomes opaque but is still moist, has an even color and flakes easily. Serve immediately, as the fish can easily become overcooked in a hot dish.
Dry-heat cooking


Baked
1.
Make a few cuts into whole fish so that the heat penetrates it well and, if desired, season the inside of the cavity.
2.
Place the fish in a dish, lightly coat in fat or oil, cover (to taste) with finely sliced vegetables and thin rounds of lemon (or place on a bed of vegetables), dress with sauce, white wine or cream. 

3. Set the oven to 450°F (230°C). If the fish is covered in a sauce containing milk, eggs or cheese, cook at 350°F (175°C).

Grilled or barbecued

Consists of cooking on a grill or spit-roast. 

1. Use flour to coat fish that is lean or that has a tendency to dry out.

2. Slash the flesh of larger fish for faster cooking. 

3. Brush the fish with fat or oil, or with sauce. Season the fish before and during cooking.

4. Place skinned fish, fish steaks or fillets on a very hot, lightly oiled grill. Cook fillets on the skinless side first. Place fish 6-8 in. (15-20 cm) from the heat source (3-4 in./7-10 cm for large fish). Turn thicker fish over in the middle of cooking, but not thin fish. When broiling fish in the oven, leave the door slightly ajar.
Wet-heat cooking


Poached

Consists of cooking slowly in a just-simmering liquid (court bouillon, milk, salted water, etc.). This method suits firm fillets and small whole fish particularly well.

      • The liquid should contain an acidic ingredient (vinegar, dry wine, beer or lemon juice) to reduce the strong fish smell released during cooking, enhance the flavor and give a firm flesh. 

      • If the fish is salt-cured, do not add salt to the cooking liquid. Reduce the amount of salt if the fish is poached for a long time (to prevent the fish from becoming too salty).

      • Poach the fish in only just enough liquid to cover it.

      • Place the fish in cold liquid and heat until the liquid is just simmering so that the flesh cooks evenly. Don't cook fish in water at a full boil, as the bubbling breaks up the flesh and flavor is lost more quickly. 

      • Fish with exposed flesh (fillets, steaks) can be cooked in a court bouillon (vegetable broth or fish stock), which preserves the flavor and prevents the flesh from breaking up.

      • Reduce cooking time by a few minutes for fish that will be served cold and let it cool in the cooking liquid.

Steamed

Consists of cooking fish using the steam released from a boiling liquid in the bottom of a saucepan. To avoid bland-tasting fish, place seasonings on top of or inside the fish (fresh herbs, spices, ginger, etc.). The cooking liquid should ideally contain an acidic ingredient.

1. Bring water (2 in./5 cm) to a boil, then place the fish on a rack, in a steaming basket or suspended in a fine cloth (such as cheesecloth) so that it is not in contact with the liquid. 
2. Cover and cook according to the required cooking time.

"Au bleu"

Consists of poaching small fish, still alive or dead for less than 2 hr, in a vinegared, salted and flavored liquid. It is absolutely essential that the fish still have its slimy coating—that is, that it not be scaled (but it can be gutted). They turn blue during cooking as the result of a chemical reaction between the vinegar and the slimy liquid that coats them.

1. Sprinkle the fish on both sides with about ¹∕3 cup (100 ml) vinegar, then cook in a very vinegary court bouillon. If desired, the fish can be sprinkled with vinegar in the pot that will be used to cook it. The vinegar will then mix with the vinegared court bouillon, which will give a more acidic flavor.

2. Cook for 8-10 min.

"En papillote"

Consists of wrapping a fish airtight so that it cooks in the steam from its own natural moisture and that of any vegetables and liquids added. 

1. Place the fish on a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper on a layer of thinly sliced vegetables and seasonings, or scatter the vegetables and seasonings over the fish.

2. Add a small amount of liquid (wine, soy sauce, broth or stock, sauce, cream or water).

3. Add lemon slices to taste and a small amount of fat or oil.

4. Fold the wrapper so that the package is airtight, and place in an oven dish.

5. Cook at 450°F (230°C) for the required time.

Braised

Consists of cooking food for a long time over a low heat in a covered container with very little liquid. This method suits firm-fleshed fish well.

1. Place the fish in a saucepan or fish casserole with a layer of various vegetables and fresh herbs in the bottom (if the fish is large, make a few slashes in its flesh so that the heat penetrates it well). Add a liquid (fish stock, white wine or court bouillon) to moisten the fish to halfway only. Cover and cook over a low heat on the stove top or in the oven. 

2. Serve the fish as is or thicken the sauce. To thicken the sauce, remove the fish, strain the juices and reduce slightly over heat, or add a mixture of butter and flour (1 tablespoon/15 ml of each), 1 or 2 egg yolks, or a little cream.
Frying

This is the most popular method of cooking fish, but also the least favorable from a nutritional point of view, as it increases the fat content of the fish.

Frying can be done in two ways: deep frying or shallow frying. In both cases, the fish is first floured, breaded or coated in batter.


Deep-fried

Consists of cooking fish by immersing it in boiling fat or oil. 

1. If only cooking a small quantity of fish, or if the fish is small in size, use only a very small quantity of oil.

2. Heat the fat or oil to 375°F (190°C).

3. Soak the fish for 5 min in salted milk or dip it in a mixture of beaten egg and 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of water, or soak it in citrus juice (leave to soak 30 min for an impressive flavor). Drain the fish lightly, then coat well in flour, breadcrumbs or batter, with or without added seasonings or cheese.

Use oil with a high smoke-point. The temperature must be 350°F-370°F (175°C-190°C). Fry only a small quantity of fish at a time. When cooked, drain the fish, then place on a paper towel before serving.

Shallow-fried (pan-fried or à la meunière—fried with a pan sauce of lemon, parsley and flour)

1. Use only a very small amount of fat or oil. Butter or margarine can be used, especially if they are clarified. 

2. Bread or flour the fish.

3. Ensure that the fat or oil is very hot but not smoking. If the fish sticks, it is because the pan is not hot enough. 

4. Cook for the required time. Turn the fish once only, in the middle of the cooking time.

5. At the end of cooking, place the fish on paper towels. 

The fish can also be cooked in the oven instead of a pan. This means that even less fat or oil can be used, the fish does not need to be turned and it cooks more quickly and evenly. Set the oven to 500°F (260°C).
Microwaving

This cooking method enhances the delicate flavor of fish, gives it a light and moist texture, and preserves its nutrients well.

1. Cook only one layer of fish at a time, placing larger or thicker pieces toward the outside of the dish. If the whole fish is too large for the container, bend it or remove the head and tail. Unless otherwise indicated in the recipe, cover the container loosely with one corner open to allow excess steam to escape.

2. Coat the fish lightly with fat or oil and season.

3. Make a few cuts into the skin of large fish so that it doesn't split during cooking.
Make slashes in the flesh of large fillets if they are thick, so that they keep their shape.

4. Cook on the highest setting, allowing 8-10 min for a whole fish (1.5 lb/750 g) or 4-5 min for 
1 lb (500 g) of fillets or steaks (for a 700 watt microwave), turning the dish in the middle of the cooking time. 

5. Let the fish rest for 2-3 min in the microwave before serving.

Etapes_Poisson Vider/Vider Pois Ventre1

Etapes_Poisson Vider/Vider Pois Ventre2

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Etapes_Poisson Vider/Vider Pois Ventre4

Etapes_Poisson Rond/Lever Fil Pois Rond1

Etapes_Poisson Rond/Lever Fil Pois Rond2

Etapes_Poisson Rond/Lever Fil Pois Rond3

Etapes_Poisson Rond/Lever Fil Pois Rond4

Etapes_Poisson Plat/Lever Fil Pois Plat1

Etapes_Poisson Plat/Lever Fil Pois Plat2

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Etapes_Poisson Plat/Lever Fil Pois Plat4

Etapes_Poisson Plat/Lever Fil Pois Plat5

Etapes_Poisson Plat/Lever Fil Pois Plat6




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External features of a bony fish.
(click to enlarge)
External features of a bony fish. (credit: © Merriam-Webster Inc.)
Any of more than 30,000 species of predominantly cold-blooded vertebrates found worldwide in fresh and salt water. Living species range from the primitive lampreys and hagfishes through the cartilaginous sharks, skates, and rays to the abundant and diverse bony fishes. Species range in length from 0.4 in. (10 mm) to more than 60 ft (20 m). The body is generally tapered at both ends. Most species that inhabit surface or midwater regions are streamlined or are flattened side to side; most bottom dwellers are flattened top to bottom. Tropical species are often brightly coloured. Most species have paired fins and skin covered with either bony or toothlike scales. Fishes generally respire through gills. Most bony fishes have a swim bladder, a gas-filled organ used to adjust swimming depth. Most species lay eggs, which may be fertilized externally or internally. Fishes first appeared more than 450 million years ago.

For more information on fish, visit Britannica.com.

verb

    To try to obtain something, usually by subtleness and cunning: angle1, hint. See ask/answer.

[Adelaide University, Australia]

1. Another metasyntactic variable. See foo. Derived originally from the Monty Python skit in the middle of The Meaning of Life entitled Find the Fish.

2. A pun for microfiche. A microfiche file cabinet may be referred to as a fish tank.


Although representations of the sea creatures are found on certain Gallo-Roman altars, very few have played important roles in the Celtic imagination. Of these the most notable is the salmon; see also DOLPHIN; EEL. The whale upon which St Brendan and his followers land is Jasconius.

Answer of the Day:

Izaak Walton

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Gone Fishin'  
Gone Fishin'
People have been fishing for food since prehistoric times. Fishing as a sport is a more recent phenomenon. Izaak Walton, who was born on this date in 1593, wrote the most famous treatise on fishing, The Compleat Angler; or, the Contemplative Man's Recreation in 1653. Walton added to it, and republished the book several times over his lifetime. The Compleat Angler is about the technique of angling, and about the tranquility that comes with the sport. Walton also wrote biographies of his friends, John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, and George Herbert, all anglers themselves.

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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, August 9, 2005

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Fish, family long prominent in New York politics.

Nicholas Fish, 1758-1833, b. New York City. He studied law before serving ably as a major in a New York regiment throughout the American Revolution. A New York City alderman (1806-17), he was a leading Federalist and a close friend of Alexander Hamilton. He also served (1824-32) as chairman of the board of trustees of Columbia College, a post later held by his son, Hamilton Fish (1808-93), the most illustrious member of the clan (see separate articles for Hamilton Fish, 1808-93, and for his youngest son, Stuyvesant Fish). Nicholas Fish, 1848-1902, b. New York City, was Hamilton's eldest son. He entered (1871) the U.S. diplomatic service and was minister to Belgium (1882-86).

A third son, Hamilton Fish, 1849-1936, b. Albany, N.Y., studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1873. He was a member of the New York state assembly (1874-96), serving as speaker in 1895-96, and was long Republican boss of Putnam co. On appointment by President Theodore Roosevelt, he was Assistant Treasurer of the United States in New York City (1903-8). He also served (1909-11) as a U.S. Representative.

The family's third Hamilton Fish, 1888-1991, son of the foregoing, b. Garrison, N.Y., was a football player at Harvard. A lawyer, Fish served in the New York state assembly (1914-16), distinguished himself in World War I as captain of an African-American infantry company, and from 1920 to 1945 was a U.S. Representative. A leading isolationist and vigorous anti-Communist, once accused of having connections with the Bundists and with other Axis supporters, he was opposed for renomination in 1944 by Gov. Thomas E. Dewey and other Republican leaders. Fish nevertheless won the primary but was defeated for reelection in November.

His son Hamilton Fish, 1926-96, b. Washington, D.C., continued the family's involvement in Republican politics. Admitted to the bar in 1957, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York in 1968, where he consistently supported civil-rights legislation. He retired from Congress in 1995.

When did human beings begin to eat fish? This question is an endless source of speculation. What can be said with confidence is that our very distant ancestors, if they lived near sea, lake, or river, would have picked up the idea quickly enough; watching the activity of diving birds, and finding fish trapped in rockpools or in naturally formed barriers in rivers, would have been sufficient prompts.

In prehistoric times, the availability of fish as food was distinctly limited. Of the marine species, only inshore ones ran any risk of being caught; deep-sea species, save for the occasional stranding on a beach, were not seen, much less caught and eaten. Even the most accessible of inshore species were relatively safe. So many fish, so few humans. And, to judge by archaeological evidence, humans found it easier to prize mollusks off rocks than to chase darting fish; witness the huge deposits of bivalve shells found in coastal Stone Age communities. Some of these deposits, for example those at Skara Brae in Shetland, are well known; but they are found in many parts of the world.

Freshwater fish enjoyed less immunity. Even before the arrival of nets and harpoons and fishing rods, they could be caught in fish traps made from simple, natural materials such as beavers used for making their dams.

Moving forward in time, it is clear that, at the dawn of recorded history, fishing and eating fish were well established practices. William Radcliffe's highly readable and wide-ranging Fishing from the Earliest Times (1926) shows that in most regions of the Old World—China, the civilizations of India and the Middle East, classical Greece and Rome—fish were a significant feature of the diet.

It is also abundantly clear that in early historic times the art of fishing and the scale of consumption developed rapidly. The works of early Chinese writers and of classical Greek authors, although some survive in mere fragments, exhibit a sophisticated range of specific fishing techniques and considerable discrimination among the species. Radcliffe observes that fishing techniques, at least for freshwater fish, have changed less over the centuries than corresponding techniques in, say, hunting (changed by the introduction of the gun); and that the spear, the line and hook, and the net remained preeminent fishing implements.

Special Attributes of Fish As Food

Early humans may have known instinctively that fish constituted a beneficial food. There are many reasons for this. One reason, which no one would have been likely to articulate until recent times, is that fish need a less elaborate skeleton than land animals, since their weight is supported by the water in which they live, providing them more flesh in relation to body weight. They are therefore an excellent source of low-fat protein. (Incidentally, not all species of fish have true, bony skeletons. The category of certain important groups, notably sharks and rays, as "non-bony" indicate they have a skeleton of cartilaginous substance, not bone.)

There are other ways in which fish are unique among the categories of food. First, they constitute by far the largest resource of wild food in the world. Second, the huge number of species of edible fish distinguishes them from other foods. Not even the citizens of Norway or Singapore (the top two countries worldwide in per-capita consumption) could hope to sample them all.

In addition, humanitarian considerations have been applied only rarely and selectively to fish and other marine or freshwater creatures, in contrast to the land animals (especially mammals) and birds. True, it has recently become unseemly for anyone except the Inuit (Eskimos) to eat marine mammals, and concern is sometimes shown over how to kill lobsters and crabs painlessly; but compassion rarely extends to fish. Nonetheless there may be a gradual change of attitude on this matter; indeed the first signs have already emerged of campaigns to include fish in "animal rights."

This last point would fit in with the reverence that in many cultures has been accorded to fish, and with the symbolic importance they have enjoyed. It is common knowledge that a fish was the first symbol of Christianity, that several disciples of Jesus were fishermen, and that some of his best-known miracles involved fish as well as bread and wine.

In other religions and cultures too fish have had a special place. In ancient Egypt and elsewhere, fish were sacrificed for the gods. They could also take on the role of "scapegoats" or sin bearers. Thus in ancient Assyria people gathered on New Year's Day by a lake or stream and, if they found numerous fish, took this as an omen for the expiation of human sins, and cast their clothes into the water for the fish to bear away, and their sins with them.

Fish could also be used, in Babylon and classical Rome, for auguries and oracular responses, based on a study of their movements. However, it was in Christian cultures that the religious role of fish led to practical consequences. In medieval times the demand for fish, stimulated by the Christian Church's insistence on meatless days, combined with realization that abundant stocks of fish such as cod existed in northerly waters, stimulated voyages of exploration and the development of techniques for fishing in distant waters.

So, at least in Europe, fishing and trade in fish took a new turn as the medieval period began. Northerly peoples such as the Scandinavians emerged from relative obscurity. The powerful Hanseatic League, centered on the Baltic Sea, was based to a considerable extent on its near monopoly of the trade in salted and dried fish; these fish came from the huge stocks of the North Atlantic. Indeed, the subsequent colonization of North America was certainly stimulated—some would say largely caused—by the search for ever more effective ways of exploiting these stocks and by the competition between the maritime powers for them.

The effects of all this activity are still with us. The salted and dried cod of medieval times survives today as an important article of commerce, under Scandinavian names such as klippfisk. In many parts of the world people who now have better means of preserving fish, notably freezing, continue to eat these products because they have acquired a taste for them. The same applies to the famous lutefisk which Swedes, for example, devotedly eat at Christmas despite all the bother involved in preparing it. Indeed it applies to many kinds of cured fish, including the hundred and one forms of cured herring such as kippers and bloaters, red herring and rollmops.

All this activity implies a recognition of fish as a valuable food resource. Indeed in the Orient, the Chinese have a consistent record, stretching back for more than four thousand years, of recognizing the nutritional (and often the medical) value of most seafoods, and of honoring fish. Bernard Read in his invaluable "Chinese Materia Medica" comments that:

Owing to its reproductive powers, in China the fish is a symbol of regeneration. As fish are reputed to swim in pairs, so a pair of fish is emblematic of connubial bliss. As in water fish move easily in any direction they signify freedom from all restraints, so in the Buddha-state the fully emancipated know no restraints or obstructions. Their scaly armour makes them a symbol of martial attributes, bringing strength and courage; and swimming against the current provides an emblem of perseverance. The fish is a symbol of abundance or wealth and prosperity, because they are so plentiful in the seas and rivers.

In the Western world, however, attitudes have been more ambivalent. Although the fish was a symbol of Christianity and prescribed as Lenten fare, opinions were divided on its merits, even on its suitability, as food. In Britain, for example, the evidence of eighteenth-century cookbooks indicates increased consumption of fresh fish from the sea, but the literature of dietetics shows a countervailing current among some medical authorities. As recently as 1835 the respected author of a manual on "modern domestic medicine" declared that fish "affords, upon the whole, but little nourishment, and is, for the most part, of difficult digestion, and this appears to be the general sentiment of intelligent medical men." One author even devoted a lengthy book to arguing that the fundamental cause of leprosy was "the eating of fish in a state of commencing decomposition." These examples remind us that it is only in the present century that seafood has been fully accepted in the West as an admirable source of nourishment. More specifically, it is only in recent decades that the importance of fish oils for health has been fully recognized. The recognition of fish as a valuable article in the diet has led to a flowering of books devoted to fish cookery. The prominence given by authors and by the media generally to fish as food, especially in the English-speaking world, is a new phenomenon which has its effect on demand.

The question arises: what are the future prospects for supplies of fish, and will they be adequate for the growing world population? There are many considerations involved here. Perhaps the most important is the development of aquaculture. Colin E. Nash has shown that there is a wealth of evidence from early sources in Egypt, China, and the Mediterranean region to show how the primitive origins of the industry led long ago to relatively sophisticated practices.

In classical Rome, for example, there were numerous vivaria (fish tanks), which served in part as status symbols for the wealthy but were essentially devoted to the production of food. Later, from the early Middle Ages onwards, fishponds became almost ubiquitous in Europe, particularly in association with religious institutions such as monasteries. It does not need a genius to perceive the benefits, and it is not surprising that there is an ancient and strong tradition of constructing and stocking fishponds in Asia also. These, of course, are for freshwater fish, especially carp and (more recently) tilapia. However, even in classical Rome there were vivaria for marine species and progress was already being made in taking advantage of saltwater lagoons and suitable parts of estuaries to create enclosures in which seafish could be raised to maturity. Carol Déry has demonstrated that the Romans had progressed amazingly far in this sort of activity, perhaps further than modern people until the last quarter of the twentieth century. Now, however, the pace is quickening. Techniques for raising salmon in sea lochs or similar environments and for dealing with the attendant risks (pollution, infections, etc) are constantly improved. The number of species involved is growing as trials show that more and more can be successfully brought to marketable size in protected surroundings. Atlantic cod are being raised in Norwegian fjords, catfish are brought up in "farms" in the southern states of the United States, and so on. The future looks promising.

As for the sea fisheries, it is difficult to be equally optimistic, since so many fishing grounds are now being exploited up to and beyond the sustainable limits, and some stocks, for example cod in the northwest Atlantic, have already been overfished to the point of extinction. Politics enter into the matter in a big way. To put it very mildly, not everyone in the fishing industry is willing to sacrifice short-term gains for long-term benefits. The same applies to consumers, and it is significant that at the beginning of the present century a new international organization, the Marine Stewardship Council, set about establishing a broad set of Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fisheries. A system of "eco-labeling" is advocated, whereby special labels will indicate to people buying fish whether these are from an endangered source or not.

Progress may be slow but it is being made, and there is one comforting thought. Humans are now better equipped than ever before to harvest the waters, and also better informed about the ways in which harvests can safely be maximized.

Bibliography

Déry, Carol A. "Fish as Food and Symbol in Ancient Rome." In Fish: Food from the Waters, edited by Harlan Walker, Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. 1997 Totnes, Devon, U.K.: Prospect Books, 1998.

FAO Fisheries Department. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2000. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization, 2000.

Heen, Eirik, and Rudolf Kreuzer, eds. Fish in Nutrition. London: Fishing News, 1962.

Lee, Mercédès. Seafood Lover's Almanac. Islip, N.Y.: National Audubon Society, 2000.

Nash, Colin E. "Aquatic Animals." In The Cambridge World History of Food, edited by Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, vol. 1. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Radcliffe, William. Fishing from the Earliest Times, 2d ed. London: John Murray, 1926.

Read, Bernard E. "Chinese Materia Medica: Fish Drugs." Peking Natural History Bulletin (1939).

—Alan Davidson

as in: the animal
sign description: Both open flat hands are used, one hand with fingertips at the wrist. The front hand waves back and forth.




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Large bodies of water often symbolize the unconscious, so any sea creature can represent a message from the unconscious or "diving" into the unconscious. Completely at home in the ocean, fish are the best-equipped creatures for exploring its depths, and are thus positive symbols for anyone engaged in therapy or self transformation. The activity of fishing can indicate a quest, particularly for nourishment, and it can indicate an exploration of the unconscious. Fish can also be sexual symbols and, because of their association with Christianity, can be Christ symbols.


Traditionally, a class of vertebrates that breathe with gills rather than lungs, live in water, and generally lay eggs, although some bear their young alive. Some biologists consider the fishes a “superclass,” and divide them into three classes: bony fishes, such as sunfish and cod; fishes with a skeleton formed of cartilage rather than bone, such as sharks; and fishes that lack jaws, such as lampreys.

  • Fishes are cold-blooded animals.

    1. fish
      noun, mainly derog

      1:
      A person of the stated sort. (1750 —) .
      F. Scott Fitzgerald I'm tired of being nice to every poor fish in school (1920);
      Listener The old man is revealed as having been a very cold fish (1958).

      2:
      nautical A torpedo. Cf. tin fish noun. (1928 —) .
      B. Knox The Navy didn't like losing a torpedo....Each 'fish' represented some £3,000 in cash (1967).
    2. fish
      noun, US

      A dollar. (1917 —) .
      N. Algren Used to get fifteen fish for an exhibition of six-no-count (1949).

      [From earlier sense, counter used in gambling; ultimately from French fiche peg, counter.]



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    Next:fish-skin, fist-fucking, fisting

    Fish is consumed for food and varies throughout the world. However, out of the 20,000 different species of fish, only a dozen or two represent the major sources of food worldwide. These include fresh fish, frozen fish, salted fish, and smoked fish. Also the source of the fish is important whether it be freshwater or saltwater varieties. The main fish sources follow:
    • Eel (Anguilla spp.) - Including American eel (A. rostrata), European eel (A. anguilla).
    • Freshwater bass (Micropterus spp.) - Including large mouth (M. salmoides) and small mouth (M dolmieni).
    • Pike (Esox spp.) - Including northern pike (E. lucius), grass pickerel (E. americanus vermiculatus), chain pickerel (E. niger), muskellunge (E. masquinongy).
    • Carp (Cyprinus carpio).
    • Pike perch (Stizostedion spp.) - European pike perch (S. lucioperca), sauger (S. canadense), walleye (S. vitreum).
    • Perch (Perca spp.).
    • Trout (Salmo spp.) - Including brown trout (S. trutta), rainbow trout (S. gairdneri), lake trout (Salvenius namycush), brook trout (Salvenius fontinalis), common grayling (Thymallus thymallus).
    • Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) - Bluefish is characteristically oily and fishy tasting.
    • Shad (Alosa spp.) - Including American shad (A. sapidissima), twaite shad (A. fallax), allis shad (A. alosa), alewife (A. psuedoharengus).
    • Mullet (Mugil spp.) - Including gray mullet (M. cephalus).
    • Monkfish (Lophius spp.)
    • Sea bass (Disentrarchus labrax) - Including American white bass (Morone Americana).
    • Sturgeon (Acipenser spp.) - Note: Caviar comes from salted sturgeon roe. Roe of other fish can be eaten and sold, but it cannot be called caviar. Different varieties of sturgeon yield different categories of roe including beluga, oestra, and svruga. If caviar is less than 5% salt and is of the best quality, it may qualify to be called malassol. This term means lightly salted in Russian. Payusnaya caviar is a pressed type.
    • Sardine (Sardina pilchardus) - Sardines are typically packed in cans. They are packed in brine or oil and are so tightly packed that the phrase 'packed like sardines' meaning packed very tightly is in the common vernacular.
    • Anchovy (Eangraulus encrasicolus) - Anchovy was used to make fermented fish sauces and waters; nuoc-mam and garum.
    • Herring (Clupea harengus) - Herring is eaten in many forms including marinated, deboned, fried, pickled, salted, with or without tomato, oil, wine or vinegar, smoked. Other forms are Saur herring (cold smoked-turns reddish brown), bloaters (ungutted then moderately smoked), bucklings (pickled in brine, then smoked), kippers (beheaded, flattened, lightly cold-smoked, sold fresh, frozen, or canned).
    • Mackerel (Scomber spp.) - Including common mackerel (Scomber scrombus), Australian mackerel (S. australascicus), and Spanish mackerel (S. japonicus).
    • Sea bream (Chrysophrys aurata) - Conger (Conger spp.).
    • Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) Gurnard (Trigla spp.) - Including gray gurnard (Eutrigla gurnardus), red gurnard (Aspitrigla cuculus), sea robin (Prionotus carolinus).
    • Lamprey (Petromyzon spp.) - Including river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) and Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentalus).
    • Redfish (Sebastes spp.) - These include the large redfish (S. marinus), large-scaled scorpion fish (Scopraena scrofa), and small-scaled scorpion fish (Scopraena porcus). Both scorpionfish have venomous spines.
    • Goatfish (Mullus spp.) - Including surmullet (Mullus surmuletus), red goatfish, striped goatfish (Mullus barbatus).
    • Salmon (Onchorhynchus spp.) and (Salmo salar) - These include chinook or king salmon (O. tshawytscha); sockeye salmon or red salmon (O. nerka); coho salmon or silver salmon (O. kisutch); pink salmon (O. gorbuscha); chum salmon (O. keta); Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), which is the only salmon found in the Atlantic ocean; ounaiche or landlocked salmon (Salmo solar ouananiche).
    • John Dory (Zeus faber) Cod (Gadus spp.) - From which the salted smoked fish called bacala (Italian) or bacalhau (Portuguese) is made. Also including North Atlantic cod (G. morhua), North Pacific cod (G. macrocephalus), as well as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), hake (Merluccius spp.), common hake (Merluccius merluccius), silver hake (M. bilinearis), whiting (Merlangius merlangus), black pollock (Pollachius virens), tomcod (Microgadus tomcod) also known as frostfish. French salted or dried cod is called morue, and fresh or frozen cod is called cabillaud.
    • Smelt (Osmerus spp.) - Including American smelt (O. mordax), European smelt (O. eperlanus), and capelin (Mallotus villosus).
    • Tuna (Thunnus spp.) - Including bluefin tuna or tunny (Thunnus thynnus), albacore or white tuna (Thunnus alalunga), bonito (Sarda-sarda), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares). Tuna is mostly canned, but can also be made into steaks.
    • Skate (Raja spp.).
    • Shark (selachian fimily) - Including hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena), picked dogfish (Squalus acnthias), smooth hound (Mustelkus spp.), large spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus stellaris), and school shark (Galeorhinus galeus).
    • Plaice (Pleuronectidae. family) - Including American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoidies), common plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), winter flounder (Psuedopleuronectes americanus), witch flounder (Glyptoccephalus cynoglussus), common dab (Limanda-limanda), yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea), lemon sole (Microstomus kitt), flounder (Platichthus flesus), and summer flounder (Paralichthus dentalus).
    • Turbot (Psetta maxima).
    • Halibut (Hippoglossus spp.) - Including Greenland halibut (Reinharditus hippoglossoides).
    • Sole (Solea spp.) - Including common sole (Solea solea).


    See Caviar, Crustaceans, Fugu.


    abbr. for fluorescence in situ hybridization.

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    Members of the classes Cephalochordata (lancelets), Agnatha (hagfish and lampreys), Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays), Holocephali (ghost sharks), Osteichthyes (bony fish), Gastropoda (gastropods), Pelecypoda (bivalves), Cephalopoda (cephalopods), Crustacea (crustaceans).

    • f. handler's disease — erysipeloid.
    • f. liver oils — used in animal diets because of their high content of vitamin A and D. Should be stabilized to avoid loss of vitamins in storage and need an antioxidant to avoid rancidification and loss of vitamin E. May also cause tainting of animal foods. See also cod liver oil, omega-3 fatty acids.
    • f. meal — a protein feed supplement rich in calcium, phosphorus and having a good iodine content. Made from inedible fish residues from the canning and fresh fish industries. May taint animal products. Toxic amines produced by bacterial spoilage cause gizzard erosion and fatal hemorrhage in birds.
    • f. mouth — used to describe gaping wounds of the skin.
    • f. mouthing — a surgical technique for anastomosing two pieces of bowel when one is moderately larger in diameter than the other. The smaller diameter is made wider by slitting it longitudinally down the sides so that it opens like a fish's mouth.
    • f. poisoning — see diodontidae, tetraodontidae.
    • f. scale disease, f. skin disease — see inherited congenital ichthyosis.
    • f. solubles — dehydrated fishwater from oil extraction and fishmeal industries.
    • f. tuberculosis — disease of aquarium fish caused by Mycobacterium spp. Causes weight loss, exophthalmos, cutaneous ulcers and pallor. At necropsy there are internal granulomas. The acid-fast organisms can be found in the ulcers. Also found in a variety of cultured species including shrimps.
    • f. viruses — includes rhabdoviruses and birnavirus.
    Random House Word Menu:

    categories related to 'fish'

    Top
    Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
    For a list of words related to fish, see:
    • Fish - fish: any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates with gills for breathing, fins, and usu. with scales, being a member of any of three classes: Agnatha (jawless, boneless fish), Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish such as sharks and rays), and Osteichthyes (bony fish)
    • Types of Food - fish: flesh of cold-blooded vertebrate animal living in water
    • Fish and Shellfish - fish: flesh of cold-blooded vertebrate animals living in water
    • Fishing Practice and Techniques - fish: plural usage of fish except in scientific and technical context or to refer to several species, not individuals, where “fishes” is preferred
    • Card Games
    • Behavior or Personality
    • Homosexuality - fish: Derogatory slang. usu. heterosexual woman
    • Prison and Punishment - fish: Slang. new prisoner


      See crossword solutions for the clue Fish.
    Fish
    Fossil range: Ordovician–Recent
    A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium, seen swimming among schools of other fish
    A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium, seen swimming among schools of other fish
    The ornate red lionfish as seen from a head-on view
    The ornate red lionfish as seen from a head-on view
    Scientific classification
    Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
    (unranked) Craniata
    Included groups
    Jawless fish
    Armoured fish
    Cartilaginous fish
    Ray-finned fish
    Lobe-finned fishes
    Excluded groups
    Tetrapods

    A fish is any member of a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups. Most fish are ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), allowing their body temperatures to vary as ambient temperatures change, though some of the large active swimmers like white shark and tuna can hold a higher core temperature.[1][2] Fish are abundant in most bodies of water. They can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams (e.g., char and gudgeon) to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans (e.g., gulpers and anglerfish). At 32,000 species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any other group of vertebrates.[3]

    Fish are an important resource worldwide, especially as food. Commercial and subsistence fishers hunt fish in wild fisheries (see fishing) or farm them in ponds or in cages in the ocean (see aquaculture). They are also caught by recreational fishers, kept as pets, raised by fishkeepers, and exhibited in public aquaria. Fish have had a role in culture through the ages, serving as deities, religious symbols, and as the subjects of art, books and movies.

    Because the term "fish" is defined negatively, and excludes the tetrapods (i.e., the amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) which descend from within the same ancestry, it is paraphyletic, and is not considered a proper grouping in systematic biology. The traditional term pisces (also ichthyes) is considered a typological, but not a phylogenetic classification.

    The earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts. Fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators. The first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many (such as sharks) became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods.

    Contents

    Diversity of fish

    Photo of fish with many narrow, straight appendages. Some are end in points, and others are longer, ending in two or three approximately flat, triangular flaps, each with a dark spot.
    Fish come in many shapes and sizes. This is a sea dragon, a close relative of the seahorse. Their leaf-like appendages enable them to blend in with floating seaweed.

    The term "fish" most precisely describes any non-tetrapod craniate (i.e. an animal with a skull and in most cases a backbone) that has gills throughout life and whose limbs, if any, are in the shape of fins.[4] Unlike groupings such as birds or mammals, fish are not a single clade but a paraphyletic collection of taxa, including hagfishes, lampreys, sharks and rays, ray-finned fish, coelacanths, and lungfish.[5][6] Indeed, lungfish and coelacanths are closer relatives of tetrapods (such as mammals, birds, amphibians, etc.) than of other fish such as ray-finned fish or sharks, so the last common ancestor of all fish is also an ancestor to tetrapods. As paraphyletic groups are no longer recognised in modern systematic biology, the use of the term "fish" as a biological group must be avoided.

    Many types of aquatic animals commonly referred to as "fish" are not fish in the sense given above; examples include shellfish, cuttlefish, starfish, crayfish and jellyfish. In earlier times, even biologists did not make a distinction – sixteenth century natural historians classified also seals, whales, amphibians, crocodiles, even hippopotamuses, as well as a host of aquatic invertebrates, as fish.[7] However, according the definition above, all mammals, including cetaceans like whales and dolphins, are not fish. In some contexts, especially in aquaculture, the true fish are referred to as finfish (or fin fish) to distinguish them from these other animals.

    A typical fish is ectothermic, has a streamlined body for rapid swimming, extracts oxygen from water using gills or uses an accessory breathing organ to breathe atmospheric oxygen, has two sets of paired fins, usually one or two (rarely three) dorsal fins, an anal fin, and a tail fin, has jaws, has skin that is usually covered with scales, and lays eggs.

    Each criterion has exceptions. Tuna, swordfish, and some species of sharks show some warm-blooded adaptations—they can heat their bodies significantly above ambient water temperature.[5] Streamlining and swimming performance varies from fish such as tuna, salmon, and jacks that can cover 10–20 body-lengths per second to species such as eels and rays that swim no more than 0.5 body-lengths per second.[5] Many groups of freshwater fish extract oxygen from the air as well as from the water using a variety of different structures. Lungfish have paired lungs similar to those of tetrapods, gouramis have a structure called the labyrinth organ that performs a similar function, while many catfish, such as Corydoras extract oxygen via the intestine or stomach.[8] Body shape and the arrangement of the fins is highly variable, covering such seemingly un-fishlike forms as seahorses, pufferfish, anglerfish, and gulpers. Similarly, the surface of the skin may be naked (as in moray eels), or covered with scales of a variety of different types usually defined as placoid (typical of sharks and rays), cosmoid (fossil lungfish and coelacanths), ganoid (various fossil fish but also living gars and bichirs), cycloid, and ctenoid (these last two are found on most bony fish).[9] There are even fish that live mostly on land. Mudskippers feed and interact with one another on mudflats and go underwater to hide in their burrows.[10] The catfish Phreatobius cisternarum lives in underground, phreatic habitats, and a relative lives in waterlogged leaf litter.[11][12]

    Fish range in size from the huge 16-metre (52 ft) whale shark to the tiny 8-millimetre (0.3 in) stout infantfish.

    Fish species diversity is roughly divided equally between marine (oceanic) and freshwater ecosystems. Coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific constitute the center of diversity for marine fishes, whereas continental freshwater fishes are most diverse in large river basins of tropical rainforests, especially the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong basins. More than 5,600 fish species inhabit Neotropical freshwaters alone, such that Neotropical fishes represent about 10% of all vertebrate species on the Earth.

    Taxonomy

    Fish are a paraphyletic group: that is, any clade containing all fish also contains the tetrapods, which are not fish. For this reason, groups such as the "Class Pisces" seen in older reference works are no longer used in formal classifications.

    Traditional classification divide fish into three extant classes, and with extinct forms sometimes classified within the tree, sometimes as their own classes:[13][14]

    The above scheme is the one most commonly encountered in non-specialist and general works. Many of the above groups are paraphyletic, in that they have given rise to successive groups: Agnathans are ancestral to Chondrichthyes, who again have given rise to Acanthodiians, the ancestors of Osteichthyes. With the arrival of phylogenetic nomenclature, the fishes has been split up into a more detailed scheme, with the following major groups:

    † – indicates extinct taxon
    Some palaeontologists contend that because Conodonta are chordates, they are primitive fish. For a fuller treatment of this taxonomy, see the vertebrate article.

    The position of hagfish in the phylum chordata is not settled. Phylogenetic research in 1998 and 1999 supported the idea that the hagfish and the lampreys form a natural group, the Cyclostomata, that is a sister group of the Gnathostomata.[15][16]

    The various fish groups account for more than half of vertebrate species. There are almost 28,000 known extant species, of which almost 27,000 are bony fish, with 970 sharks, rays, and chimeras and about 108 hagfish and lampreys.[17] A third of these species fall within the nine largest families; from largest to smallest, these families are Cyprinidae, Gobiidae, Cichlidae, Characidae, Loricariidae, Balitoridae, Serranidae, Labridae, and Scorpaenidae. About 64 families are monotypic, containing only one species. The final total of extant species may grow to exceed 32,500.[18]

    Anatomy

    The anatomy of Lampanyctodes hectoris
    (1) – operculum (gill cover), (2) – lateral line, (3) – dorsal fin, (4) – fat fin, (5) – caudal peduncle, (6) – caudal fin, (7) – anal fin, (8) – photophores, (9) – pelvic fins (paired), (10) – pectoral fins (paired)

    Respiration

    Most fish exchange gases using gills on either side of the pharynx. Gills consist of threadlike structures called filaments. Each filament contains a capillary network that provides a large surface area for exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. Fish exchange gases by pulling oxygen-rich water through their mouths and pumping it over their gills. In some fish, capillary blood flows in the opposite direction to the water, causing countercurrent exchange. The gills push the oxygen-poor water out through openings in the sides of the pharynx. Some fish, like sharks and lampreys, possess multiple gill openings. However, bony fish have a single gill opening on each side. This opening is hidden beneath a protective bony cover called an operculum.

    Juvenile bichirs have external gills, a very primitive feature that they share with larval amphibians.

    Fish from multiple groups can live out of the water for extended time periods. Amphibious fish such as the mudskipper can live and move about on land for up to several days, or live in stagnant or otherwise oxygen depleted water. Many such fish can breathe air via a variety of mechanisms. The skin of anguillid eels may absorb oxygen directly. The buccal cavity of the electric eel may breathe air. Catfish of the families Loricariidae, Callichthyidae, and Scoloplacidae absorb air through their digestive tracts.[19] Lungfish, with the exception of the Australian lungfish, and bichirs have paired lungs similar to those of tetrapods and must surface to gulp fresh air through the mouth and pass spent air out through the gills. Gar and bowfin have a vascularized swim bladder that functions in the same way. Loaches, trahiras, and many catfish breathe by passing air through the gut. Mudskippers breathe by absorbing oxygen across the skin (similar to frogs). A number of fish have evolved so-called accessory breathing organs that extract oxygen from the air. Labyrinth fish (such as gouramis and bettas) have a labyrinth organ above the gills that performs this function. A few other fish have structures resembling labyrinth organs in form and function, most notably snakeheads, pikeheads, and the Clariidae catfish family.

    Breathing air is primarily of use to fish that inhabit shallow, seasonally variable waters where the water's oxygen concentration may seasonally decline. Fish dependent solely on dissolved oxygen, such as perch and cichlids, quickly suffocate, while air-breathers survive for much longer, in some cases in water that is little more than wet mud. At the most extreme, some air-breathing fish are able to survive in damp burrows for weeks without water, entering a state of aestivation (summertime hibernation) until water returns.

    Photo of fish head split in half longitudinally with gill filaments crossing from top to bottom
    Tuna gills inside of the head. The fish head is oriented snout-downwards, with the view looking towards the mouth.

    Air breathing fish can be divided into obligate air breathers and facultative air breathers. Obligate air breathers, such as the African lungfish, must breathe air periodically or they suffocate. Facultative air breathers, such as the catfish Hypostomus plecostomus, only breathe air if they need to and will otherwise rely on their gills for oxygen. Most air breathing fish are facultative air breathers that avoid the energetic cost of rising to the surface and the fitness cost of exposure to surface predators.[19]

    Circulation

    Fish have a closed-loop circulatory system. The heart pumps the blood in a single loop throughout the body. In most fish, the heart consists of four parts, including two chambers and an entrance and exit.[20] The first part is the sinus venosus, a thin-walled sac that collects blood from the fish's veins before allowing it to flow to the second part, the atrium, which is a large muscular chamber. The atrium serves as a one-way antechamber, sends blood to the third part, ventricle. The ventricle is another thick-walled, muscular chamber and it pumps the blood, first to the fourth part, bulbus arteriosus, a large tube, and then out of the heart. The bulbus arteriosus connects to the aorta, through which blood flows to the gills for oxygenation.

    Digestion

    Jaws allow fish to eat a wide variety of food, including plants and other organisms. Fish ingest food through the mouth and break it down in the esophagus. In the stomach, food is further digested and, in many fish, processed in finger-shaped pouches called pyloric caeca, which secrete digestive enzymes and absorb nutrients. Organs such as the liver and pancreas add enzymes and various chemicals as the food moves through the digestive tract. The intestine completes the process of digestion and nutrient absorption.

    Excretion

    As with many aquatic animals, most fish release their nitrogenous wastes as ammonia. Some of the wastes diffuse through the gills. Blood wastes are filtered by the kidneys.

    Saltwater fish tend to lose water because of osmosis. Their kidneys return water to the body. The reverse happens in freshwater fish: they tend to gain water osmotically. Their kidneys produce dilute urine for excretion. Some fish have specially adapted kidneys that vary in function, allowing them to move from freshwater to saltwater.

    Scales

    The scales of fish originate from the mesoderm (skin); they may be similar in structure to teeth.

    Sensory and nervous system

    Anatomical diagram showing the pairs of olfactory, telencephalon, and optic lobes, followed by the cerebellum and the mylencephalon
    Dorsal view of the brain of the rainbow trout

    Central nervous system

    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.[21] However, some fish have relatively large brains, most notably mormyrids and sharks, which have brains about as massive relative to body weight as birds and marsupials.[22]

    Fish brains are divided into several regions. At the front are the olfactory lobes, a pair of structures that receive and process signals from the nostrils via the two olfactory nerves.[21] The olfactory lobes are very large in fish that hunt primarily by smell, such as hagfish, sharks, and catfish. Behind the olfactory lobes is the two-lobed telencephalon, the structural equivalent to the cerebrum in higher vertebrates. In fish the telencephalon is concerned mostly with olfaction.[21] Together these structures form the forebrain.

    Connecting the forebrain to the midbrain is the diencephalon (in the diagram, this structure is below the optic lobes and consequently not visible). The diencephalon performs functions associated with hormones and homeostasis.[21] The pineal body lies just above the diencephalon. This structure detects light, maintains circadian rhythms, and controls color changes.[21]

    The midbrain or mesencephalon contains the two optic lobes. These are very large in species that hunt by sight, such as rainbow trout and cichlids.[21]

    The hindbrain or metencephalon is particularly involved in swimming and balance.[21] The cerebellum is a single-lobed structure that is typically the biggest part of the brain.[21] Hagfish and lampreys have relatively small cerebellae, while the mormyrid cerebellum is massive and apparently involved in their electrical sense.[21]

    The brain stem or myelencephalon is the brain's posterior.[21] As well as controlling some muscles and body organs, in bony fish at least, the brain stem governs respiration and osmoregulation.[21]

    Sense organs

    Most fish possess highly developed sense organs. Nearly all daylight fish have color vision that is at least as good as a human's (see vision in fishes). Many fish also have chemoreceptors that are responsible for extraordinary senses of taste and smell. Although they have ears, many fish may not hear very well. Most fish have sensitive receptors that form the lateral line system, which detects gentle currents and vibrations, and senses the motion of nearby fish and prey.[23] Some fish, such as catfish and sharks, have organs that detect weak electric currents on the order of millivolt.[24] Other fish, like the South American electric fishes Gymnotiformes, can produce weak electric currents, which they use in navigation and social communication.

    Fish orient themselves using landmarks and may use mental maps based on multiple landmarks or symbols. Fish behavior in mazes reveals that they possess spatial memory and visual discrimination.[25]

    Vision

    Vision is an important sensory system for most species of fish. Fish eyes are similar to those of terrestrial vertebrates like birds and mammals, but have a more spherical lens. Their retinas generally have both rod cells and cone cells (for scotopic and photopic vision), and most species have colour vision. Some fish can see ultraviolet and some can see polarized light. Amongst jawless fish, the lamprey has well-developed eyes, while the hagfish has only primitive eyespots[disambiguation needed ].[26] Fish vision shows adaptation to their visual environment, for example deep sea fishes have eyes suited to the dark environment.

    Hearing

    Hearing is an important sensory system for most species of fish. Fish sense sound using their lateral lines and their ears.

    Capacity for pain

    Experiments done by William Tavolga provide evidence that fish have pain and fear responses. For instance, in Tavolga’s experiments, toadfish grunted when electrically shocked and over time they came to grunt at the mere sight of an electrode.[27]

    In 2003, Scottish scientists at the University of Edinburgh and the Roslin Institute concluded that rainbow trout exhibit behaviors often associated with pain in other animals. Bee venom and acetic acid injected into the lips resulted in fish rocking their bodies and rubbing their lips along the sides and floors of their tanks, which the researchers concluded were attempts to relieve pain, similar to what mammals would do.[28][29][30] Neurons fired in a pattern resembling human neuronal patterns.[30]

    Professor James D. Rose of the University of Wyoming claimed the study was flawed since it did not provide proof that fish possess "conscious awareness, particularly a kind of awareness that is meaningfully like ours".[31] Rose argues that since fish brains are so different from human brains, fish are probably not conscious in the manner humans are, so that reactions similar to human reactions to pain instead have other causes. Rose had published a study a year earlier arguing that fish cannot feel pain because their brains lack a neocortex.[32] However, animal behaviorist Temple Grandin argues that fish could still have consciousness without a neocortex because "different species can use different brain structures and systems to handle the same functions."[30]

    Animal welfare advocates raise concerns about the possible suffering of fish caused by angling. Some countries, such as Germany have banned specific types of fishing, and the British RSPCA now formally prosecutes individuals who are cruel to fish.[33]

    Muscular system

    Photo of white bladder that consists of a rectangular section and a banana-shaped section connectd by a much thinner element
    Swim bladder of a Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus)

    Most fish move by alternately contracting paired sets of muscles on either side of the backbone. These contractions form S-shaped curves that move down the body. As each curve reaches the back fin, backward force is applied to the water, and in conjunction with the fins, moves the fish forward. The fish's fins function like an airplane's flaps. Fins also increase the tail's surface area, increasing speed. The streamlined body of the fish decreases the amount of friction from the water. Since body tissue is denser than water, fish must compensate for the difference or they will sink. Many bony fish have an internal organ called a swim bladder that adjusts their buoyancy through manipulation of gases.

    Photo of shark surrounded by school of other fish
    A 3-tonne (3.0-long-ton; 3.3-short-ton) great white shark off Isla Guadalupe

    Homeothermy

    Although most fish are exclusively ectothermic, there are exceptions.

    Certain species of fish maintain elevated body temperatures. Endothermic teleosts (bony fish) are all in the suborder Scombroidei and include the billfishes, tunas, and one species of "primitive" mackerel (Gasterochisma melampus). All sharks in the family Lamnidae – shortfin mako, long fin mako, white, porbeagle, and salmon shark – are endothermic, and evidence suggests the trait exists in family Alopiidae (thresher sharks). The degree of endothermy varies from the billfish, which warm only their eyes and brain, to bluefin tuna and porbeagle sharks who maintain body temperatures elevated in excess of 20 °C above ambient water temperatures.[34] See also gigantothermy. Endothermy, though metabolically costly, is thought to provide advantages such as increased muscle strength, higher rates of central nervous system processing, and higher rates of digestion.

    Reproductive system

    Organs

    Organs: 1. Liver, 2. Gas bladder, 3. Roe, 4. Pyloric caeca, 5. Stomach, 6. Intestine

    Fish reproductive organs include testes and ovaries. In most species, gonads are paired organs of similar size, which can be partially or totally fused.[35] There may also be a range of secondary organs that increase reproductive fitness.

    In terms of spermatogonia distribution, the structure of teleosts testes has two types: in the most common, spermatogonia occur all along the seminiferous tubules, while in Atherinomorph fish they are confined to the distal portion of these structures. Fish can present cystic or semi-cystic spermatogenesis in relation to the release phase of germ cells in cysts to the seminiferous tubules lumen.[35]

    Fish ovaries may be of three types: gymnovarian, secondary gymnovarian or cystovarian. In the first type, the oocytes are released directly into the coelomic cavity and then enter the ostium, then through the oviduct and are eliminated. Secondary gymnovarian ovaries shed ova into the coelom from which they go directly into the oviduct. In the third type, the oocytes are conveyed to the exterior through the oviduct.[36] Gymnovaries are the primitive condition found in lungfish, sturgeon, and bowfin. Cystovaries characterize most teleosts, where the ovary lumen has continuity with the oviduct.[35] Secondary gymnovaries are found in salmonids and a few other teleosts.

    Oogonia development in teleosts fish varies according to the group, and the determination of oogenesis dynamics allows the understanding of maturation and fertilization processes. Changes in the nucleus, ooplasm, and the surrounding layers characterize the oocyte maturation process.[35]

    Postovulatory follicles are structures formed after oocyte release; they do not have endocrine function, present a wide irregular lumen, and are rapidly reabsorbed in a process involving the apoptosis of follicular cells. A degenerative process called follicular atresia reabsorbs vitellogenic oocytes not spawned. This process can also occur, but less frequently, in oocytes in other development stages.[35]

    Some fish are hermaphrodites, having both testes and ovaries either at different phases in their life cycle or, as in hamlets, have them simultaneously.

    Reproductive method

    Over 97% of all known fish are oviparous,[37] that is, the eggs develop outside the mother's body. Examples of oviparous fish include salmon, goldfish, cichlids, tuna, and eels. In the majority of these species, fertilisation takes place outside the mother's body, with the male and female fish shedding their gametes into the surrounding water. However, a few oviparous fish practice internal fertilization, with the male using some sort of intromittent organ to deliver sperm into the genital opening of the female, most notably the oviparous sharks, such as the horn shark, and oviparous rays, such as skates. In these cases, the male is equipped with a pair of modified pelvic fins known as claspers.

    Marine fish can produce high numbers of eggs which are often released into the open water column. The eggs have an average diameter of 1 millimetre (0.039 in).

    Photo of semi-transparent creature with a darker, yolk-like central structure and other approximately round internal elements
    An example of zooplankton

    The newly hatched young of oviparous fish are called larvae. They are usually poorly formed, carry a large yolk sac (for nourishment) and are very different in appearance from juvenile and adult specimens. The larval period in oviparous fish is relatively short (usually only several weeks), and larvae rapidly grow and change appearance and structure (a process termed metamorphosis) to become juveniles. During this transition larvae must switch from their yolk sac to feeding on zooplankton prey, a process which depends on typically inadequate zooplankton density, starving many larvae.

    In ovoviviparous fish the eggs develop inside the mother's body after internal fertilization but receive little or no nourishment directly from the mother, depending instead on the yolk. Each embryo develops in its own egg. Familiar examples of ovoviviparous fish include guppies, angel sharks, and coelacanths.

    Some species of fish are viviparous. In such species the mother retains the eggs and nourishes the embryos. Typically, viviparous fish have a structure analogous to the placenta seen in mammals connecting the mother's blood supply with that of the embryo. Examples of viviparous fish include the surf-perches, splitfins, and lemon shark. Some viviparous fish exhibit oophagy, in which the developing embryos eat other eggs produced by the mother. This has been observed primarily among sharks, such as the shortfin mako and porbeagle, but is known for a few bony fish as well, such as the halfbeak Nomorhamphus ebrardtii.[38] Intrauterine cannibalism is an even more unusual mode of vivipary, in which the largest embryos eat weaker and smaller siblings. This behavior is also most commonly found among sharks, such as the grey nurse shark, but has also been reported for Nomorhamphus ebrardtii.[38]

    Aquarists commonly refer to ovoviviparous and viviparous fish as livebearers.

    Immune system

    Immune organs vary by type of fish.[39] In the jawless fish (lampreys and hagfish), true lymphoid organs are absent. These fish rely on regions of lymphoid tissue within other organs to produce immune cells. For example, erythrocytes, macrophages and plasma cells are produced in the anterior kidney (or pronephros) and some areas of the gut (where granulocytes mature.) They resemble primitive bone marrow in hagfish. Cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays) have a more advanced immune system. They have three specialized organs that are unique to chondrichthyes; the epigonal organs (lymphoid tissue similar to mammalian bone) that surround the gonads, the Leydig's organ within the walls of their esophagus, and a spiral valve in their intestine. These organs house typical immune cells (granulocytes, lymphocytes and plasma cells). They also possess an identifiable thymus and a well-developed spleen (their most important immune organ) where various lymphocytes, plasma cells and macrophages develop and are stored. Chondrostean fish (sturgeons, paddlefish and bichirs) possess a major site for the production of granulocytes within a mass that is associated with the meninges (membranes surrounding the central nervous system.) Their heart is frequently covered with tissue that contains lymphocytes, reticular cells and a small number of macrophages. The chondrostean kidney is an important hemopoietic organ; where erythrocytes, granulocytes, lymphocytes and macrophages develop.

    Like chondrostean fish, the major immune tissues of bony fish (or teleostei) include the kidney (especially the anterior kidney), which houses many different immune cells.[40] In addition, teleost fish possess a thymus, spleen and scattered immune areas within mucosal tissues (e.g. in the skin, gills, gut and gonads). Much like the mammalian immune system, teleost erythrocytes, neutrophils and granulocytes are believed to reside in the spleen whereas lymphocytes are the major cell type found in the thymus.[41][42] In 2006, a lymphatic system similar to that in mammals was described in one species of teleost fish, the zebrafish. Although not confirmed as yet, this system presumably will be where naive (unstimulated) T cells accumulate while waiting to encounter an antigen.[43]

    Diseases

    Like other animals, fish suffer from diseases and parasites. To prevent disease they have a variety of defenses. Non-specific defenses include the skin and scales, as well as the mucus layer secreted by the epidermis that traps and inhibits the growth of microorganisms. If pathogens breach these defenses, fish can develop an inflammatory response that increases blood flow to the infected region and delivers white blood cells that attempt to destroy pathogens. Specific defenses respond to particular pathogens recognised by the fish's body, i.e., an immune response.[44] In recent years, vaccines have become widely used in aquaculture and also with ornamental fish, for example furunculosis vaccines in farmed salmon and koi herpes virus in koi.[45][46]

    Some species use cleaner fish to remove external parasites. The best known of these are the Bluestreak cleaner wrasses of the genus Labroides found on coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. These small fish maintain so-called "cleaning stations" where other fish congregate and perform specific movements to attract the attention of the cleaners.[47] Cleaning behaviors have been observed in a number of fish groups, including an interesting case between two cichlids of the same genus, Etroplus maculatus, the cleaner, and the much larger Etroplus suratensis.[48]

    Evolution

    Animation showing life at different evolutionary stages
    Outdated evolutionary view of continual gradation (animation)
    Drawing of animal with large mouth, long tail, very small dorsal fins, and pectoral fins that attach towards the bottom of the body, resembling lizard legs in scale and development.[49]
    Dunkleosteus was a gigantic, 10 meter (33 feet) long prehistoric fish.

    Fish do not represent a monophyletic group, and therefore the "evolution of fish" is not studied as a single event.[50]

    Proliferation of fish was apparently due to the hinged jaw, because jawless fish left very few descendants.[51] Lampreys may approximate pre-jawed fish. The first jaws are found in Placodermi fossils. It is unclear if the advantage of a hinged jaw is greater biting force, improved respiration, or a combination of factors.

    Fish may have evolved from a creature similar to a coral-like Sea squirt, whose larvae resemble primitive fish in important ways. The first ancestors of fish may have kept the larval form into adulthood (as some sea squirts do today), although perhaps the reverse is the case.

    Conservation

    The 2006 IUCN Red List names 1,173 fish species that are threatened with extinction.[52] Included are species such as Atlantic cod,[53] Devil's Hole pupfish,[54] coelacanths,[55] and great white sharks.[56] Because fish live underwater they are more difficult to study than terrestrial animals and plants, and information about fish populations is often lacking. However, freshwater fish seem particularly threatened because they often live in relatively small water bodies. For example, the Devil's Hole pupfish occupies only a single 3 by 6 metres (10 by 20 ft) pool.[57]

    Overfishing

    Photo of shark in profile surrounded by other, much smaller fish in bright sunlight
    A Whale shark, the world's largest fish, is classified as Vulnerable.

    Overfishing is a major threat to edible fish such as cod and tuna.[58][59] Overfishing eventually causes population (known as stock) collapse because the survivors cannot produce enough young to replace those removed. Such commercial extinction does not mean that the species is extinct, merely that it can no longer sustain a fishery.

    One well-studied example of fishery collapse is the Pacific sardine Sadinops sagax caerulues fishery off the California coast. From a 1937 peak of 790,000 long tons (800,000 t) the catch steadily declined to only 24,000 long tons (24,000 t) in 1968, after which the fishery was no longer economically viable.[60]

    The main tension between fisheries science and the fishing industry is that the two groups have different views on the resiliency of fisheries to intensive fishing. In places such as Scotland, Newfoundland, and Alaska the fishing industry is a major employer, so governments are predisposed to support it.[61][62] On the other hand, scientists and conservationists push for stringent protection, warning that many stocks could be wiped out within fifty years.[63][64]

    Habitat destruction

    A key stress on both freshwater and marine ecosystems is habitat degradation including water pollution, the building of dams, removal of water for use by humans, and the introduction of exotic species.[65] An example of a fish that has become endangered because of habitat change is the pallid sturgeon, a North American freshwater fish that lives in rivers damaged by human activity.[66]

    Exotic species

    Introduction of non-native species has occurred in many habitats. One of the best studied examples is the introduction of Nile perch into Lake Victoria in the 1960s. Nile perch gradually exterminated the lake's 500 endemic cichlid species. Some of them survive now in captive breeding programmes, but others are probably extinct.[67] Carp, snakeheads,[68] tilapia, European perch, brown trout, rainbow trout, and sea lampreys are other examples of fish that have caused problems by being introduced into alien environments.

    Importance to humans

    Photo of painting showing blue-skinned, 4-armed upper body of man standing in the opened mouth of a fish with bent tail with other, paler men facing him with hands raised together
    Drawing of two swords and two fish in profile on background with rectangular top and angled-bottom
    Coat of arms of Narva, Estonia
    Saint Benno of Meissen depicted with a fish in hand (Church of Saint Benno in Munich)

    Aquarium collecting

    Economic importance

    Recreation

    Culture

    In the Book of Jonah a "great fish" swallowed Jonah the Prophet. Legends of half-human, half-fish mermaids have featured in stories like those of Hans Christian Andersen and movies like Splash (See Merman, Mermaid).

    Among the deities said to take the form of a fish are Ika-Roa of the Polynesians, Dagon of various ancient Semitic peoples, the shark-gods of Hawaiʻi and Matsya of the Hindus. The astrological symbol Pisces is based on a constellation of the same name, but there is also a second fish constellation in the night sky, Piscis Austrinus.

    Fish have been used figuratively in many different ways, for example the ichthys used by early Christians to identify themselves, through to the fish as a symbol of fertility among Bengalis.[69]

    Fish feature prominently in art and literature, in movies such as Finding Nemo and books such as The Old Man and the Sea. Large fish, particularly sharks, have frequently been the subject of horror movies and thrillers, most notably the novel Jaws, which spawned a series of films of the same name that in turn inspired similar films or parodies such as Shark Tale, Snakehead Terror, and Piranha.

    Drawing of three men sitting on fish at the surface, each wearing a sailor suit and waving a flag
    Fish riders in a 1920s poster of the Republic of China.

    In the semiotic of Ashtamangala (buddhist symbolism) the golden fish (Sanskrit: Matsya), represents the state of fearless suspension in samsara, perceived as the harmless ocean, referred to as 'buddha-eyes' or 'rigpa-sight'. The fish symbolizes the auspiciousness of all living beings in a state of fearlessness without danger of drowning in the Samsaric Ocean of Suffering, and migrating from teaching to teaching freely and spontaneously just as fish swim.


    They have religious significance in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions but also in Christianity who is first signified by the sign of the fish, and especially referring to feeding the multitude in the desert. In the dhamma of Buddha the fish symbolize happiness as they have complete freedom of movement in the water. They represent fertility and abundance. Often drawn in the form of carp which are regarded in the Orient as sacred on account of their elegant beauty, size and life-span.[3]

    The name of the Canadian city of Coquitlam, British Columbia is derived from Kwikwetlem, which is said to be derived from a Coast Salish term meaning "little red fish".[70]

    Terminology

    Shoal or school?

    Photo of thousands of fish separated from each other by distances of 2 inches (51 mm) or less
    These goldband fusiliers are schooling because their swimming is synchronised

    A random assemblage of fish merely using some localised resource such as food or nesting sites is known simply as an aggregation. When fish come together in an interactive, social grouping, then they may be forming either a shoal or a school depending on the degree of organisation. A shoal is a loosely organised group where each fish swims and forages independently but is attracted to other members of the group and adjusts its behaviour, such as swimming speed, so that it remains close to the other members of the group. Schools of fish are much more tightly organised, synchronising their swimming so that all fish move at the same speed and in the same direction. Shoaling and schooling behaviour is believed to provide a variety of advantages.[71]

    Examples:

    • Cichlids congregating at lekking sites form an aggregation.
    • Many minnows and characins form shoals.
    • Anchovies, herrings and silversides are classic examples of schooling fish.

    While school and shoal have different meanings within biology, they are often treated as synonyms by non-specialists, with speakers of British English using "shoal" to describe any grouping of fish, while speakers of American English often using "school" just as loosely.

    Fish or fishes?

    Though often used interchangeably, these words have different meanings. Fish is used either as singular noun or to describe a group of specimens from a single species. Fishes describes a group of different species.[5]

    See also

    For a topical guide to sharks, see Outline of sharks

    Notes

    1. ^ Goldman, K.J. (1997). "Regulation of body temperature in the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias". Journal of Comparative Physiology. B Biochemical Systemic and Environmental Physiology 167 (6): 423–429. doi:10.1007/s003600050092. http://www.mendeley.com/research/temperature-and-activities-of-a-white-shark-carcharodon-carcharias/. Retrieved 12 October 2011. 
    2. ^ Carey, F.G.; Lawson, K.D. (1.). "Temperature regulation in free-swimming bluefin tuna". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology 44 (2): 375–392. doi:10.1016/0300-9629(73)90490-8. 
    3. ^ FishBase: February 2011 Update. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
    4. ^ Nelson 2006, p. 2
    5. ^ a b c d Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, p. 3
    6. ^ Tree of life web project – Chordates.
    7. ^ Jr.Cleveland P Hickman, Larry S. Roberts, Allan L. Larson: Integrated Principles of Zoology, McGraw-Hill Publishing Co, 2001, ISBN 0-07-290961-7
    8. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, pp. 53–57
    9. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, pp. 33–36
    10. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Periophthalmus barbarus" in FishBase. November 2006 version.
    11. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Phreatobius cisternarum" in FishBase. November 2006 version.
    12. ^ Planet Catfish. "Cat-eLog: Heptapteridae: Phreatobius: Phreatobius sp. (1)". Planet Catfish. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=646. Retrieved 26 November 2006. 
    13. ^ Romer, A.S. & T.S. Parsons. 1977. The Vertebrate Body. 5th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia. (6th ed. 1985)
    14. ^ Benton, M. J. (1998) The quality of the fossil record of vertebrates. Pp. 269–303, in Donovan, S. K. and Paul, C. R. C. (eds), The adequacy of the fossil record, Fig. 2. Wiley, New York, 312 pp.
    15. ^ Shigehiro Kuraku, Daisuke Hoshiyama, Kazutaka Katoh, Hiroshi Suga, Takashi Miyata (1999) Monophyly of Lampreys and Hagfishes Supported by Nuclear DNA–Coded Genes J Mol Evol (1999) 49:729–735
    16. ^ J. Mallatt, J. Sullivan (1998) 28S and 18S rDNA sequences support the monophyly of lampreys and hagfishes Molecular Biology and Evolution V 15, Issue 12, pp 1706–1718
    17. ^ Nelson 2006, pp. 4–5
    18. ^ Nelson 2006, p. 3
    19. ^ a b "Modifications of the Digestive Tract for Holding Air in Loricariid and Scoloplacid Catfishes" (PDF). Copeia (3): 663–675. 1998. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/science_math/res_area/loricariid/fish_key/Air.pdf. Retrieved 25 June 2009. 
    20. ^ Setaro, John F. (1999). Circulatory System. Microsoft Encarta 99. 
    21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, pp. 48–49
    22. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, p. 191
    23. ^ Orr, James (1999). Fish. Microsoft Encarta 99. ISBN 0-8114-2346-8. 
    24. ^ Albert, J.S., and W.G.R. Crampton. 2005. Electroreception and electrogenesis. pp. 431–472 in The Physiology of Fishes, 3rd Edition. D.H. Evans and J.B. Claiborne (eds.). CRC Press.
    25. ^ Journal of Undergraduate Life Sciences. "Appropriate maze methodology to study learning in fish" (PDF). http://juls.sa.utoronto.ca/Issues/JULS-Vol2Iss1/JULS-Vol2Iss1-Review3.pdf. Retrieved 28 May 2009. 
    26. ^ N. A. Campbell and J. B. Reece (2005). Biology, Seventh Edition. Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco, California.
    27. ^ Dunayer, Joan, "Fish: Sensitivity Beyond the Captor's Grasp," The Animals' Agenda, July/August 1991, pp. 12–18
    28. ^ Vantressa Brown, “Fish Feel Pain, British Researchers Say,” Agence France-Presse, 1 May 2003[dead link]
    29. ^ Kirby, Alex (30 April 2003). "Fish do feel pain, scientists say". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2983045.stm. Retrieved 4 January 2010. 
    30. ^ a b c Grandin, Temple; Johnson, Catherine (2005). Animals in Translation. New York, New York: Scribner. pp. 183–184. ISBN 0-7432-4769-8. 
    31. ^ "Rose, J.D. 2003. A Critique of the paper: "Do fish have nociceptors: Evidence for the evolution of a vertebrate sensory system"" (PDF). http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/Fishwelfare/RoseC.pdf. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
    32. ^ James D. Rose, Do Fish Feel Pain?, 2002. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
    33. ^ Leake, J. “Anglers to Face RSPCA Check,” The Sunday Times – Britain, 14 March 2004
    34. ^ Block BA and Finnerty JR (1993) "Endothermy in fishes: a phylogenetic analysis of constraints, predispositions, and selection pressures" Environmental Biology of Fishes, 40 (3): 283–302. doi:10.1007/BF00002518
    35. ^ a b c d e Guimaraes-Cruz, Rodrigo J., Rodrigo J.; Santos, José E. dos; Santos, Gilmar B. (July/Sept. 2005). "Gonadal structure and gametogenesis of Loricaria lentiginosa Isbrücker (Pisces, Teleostei, Siluriformes)". Rev. Bras. Zool. 22 (3): 556–564. doi:10.1590/S0101-81752005000300005. ISSN 0101-8175. 
    36. ^ Brito, M.F.G.; Bazzoli, N. (2003). "Reproduction of the surubim catfish (Pisces, Pimelodidae) in the São Francisco River, Pirapora Region, Minas Gerais, Brazil". Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia 55 (5): 624–633. doi:10.1590/S0102-09352003000500018. ISSN 0102-0935. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-09352003000500018. 
    37. ^ Peter Scott: Livebearing Fishes, p. 13. Tetra Press 1997. ISBN 1-56465-193-2
    38. ^ a b Meisner, A & Burns, J: Viviparity in the Halfbeak Genera Dermogenys and Nomorhamphus (Teleostei: Hemiramphidae). Journal of Morphology 234, pp. 295–317, 1997
    39. ^ A.G. Zapata, A. Chiba and A. Vara. Cells and tissues of the immune system of fish. In: The Fish Immune System: Organism, Pathogen and Environment. Fish Immunology Series. (eds. G. Iwama and T.Nakanishi,), New York, Academic Press, 1996, pp. 1–55.
    40. ^ D.P. Anderson. Fish Immunology. (S.F. Snieszko and H.R. Axelrod, eds), Hong Kong: TFH Publications, Inc. Ltd., 1977.
    41. ^ S. Chilmonczyk. The thymus in fish: development and possible function in the immune response. Annual Review of Fish Diseases, Volume 2, 1992, pp. 181–200.
    42. ^ J.D. Hansen and A.G. Zapata. Lymphocyte development in fish and amphibians. Immunological Reviews, Volume 166, 1998, pp. 199–220.
    43. ^ Kucher et al.,. Development of the zebrafish lymphatic system requires VegFc signalling. Current Biology, Volume 16, 2006, pp. 1244–1248.
    44. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, pp. 95–96
    45. ^ R. C. Cipriano (2001), Furunculosis And Other Diseases Caused By Aeromonas salmonicida. Fish Disease Leaflet 66. U.S. Department of the Interior.[1]
    46. ^ K H Hartman et al. (2004), Koi Herpes Virus (KHV) Disease. Fact Sheet VM-149. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.[2]
    47. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, p. 380
    48. ^ Richard L. Wyman and Jack A. Ward (1972). A Cleaning Symbiosis between the Cichlid Fishes Etroplus maculatus and Etroplus suratensis. I. Description and Possible Evolution. Copeia, Vol. 1972, No. 4, pp. 834–838.
    49. ^ Monster fish crushed opposition with strongest bite ever, smh.com.au
    50. ^ G. Lecointre & H. Le Guyader, 2007, The Tree of Life: A Phylogenetic Classification, Harvard University Press Reference Library
    51. ^ Classification of the Chordates Evolution, ecology and biodiversity 05-1116-3, University of Winnipeg. Retrieved 7 April 2007. Archived 16 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine
    52. ^ "Table 1: Numbers of threatened species by major groups of organisms (1996–2004)". iucnredlist.org. Archived from the original on 30 June 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060630054235/http://www.iucnredlist.org/info/tables/table1. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    53. ^ "Gadus morhua (Atlantic Cod)". Iucnredlist.org. http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/8784/summ. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
    54. ^ "Cyprinodon diabolis (Devils Hole Pupfish)". Iucnredlist.org. http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/6149/summ. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
    55. ^ "Latimeria chalumnae (Coelacanth, Gombessa)". Iucnredlist.org. http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/11375/summ. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
    56. ^ "Carcharodon carcharias (Great White Shark)". Iucnredlist.org. http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/3855/summ. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
    57. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, pp. 449–450
    58. ^ "Call to halt cod 'over-fishing'". BBC News. 5 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6234881.stm. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    59. ^ "Tuna groups tackle overfishing". BBC News. 26 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6301187.stm. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    60. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, p. 462
    61. ^ "UK 'must shield fishing industry'". BBC News. 3 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6112352.stm. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    62. ^ "EU fish quota deal hammered out". BBC News. 21 December 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6197433.stm. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    63. ^ "Ocean study predicts the collapse of all seafood fisheries by 2050". http://www.physorg.com/news81778444.html. Retrieved 13 January 2006. 
    64. ^ "Atlantic bluefin tuna could soon be commercially extinct". Archived from the original on 30 April 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070430205610/http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/europe/what_we_do/mediterranean/about/marine/bluefin_tuna/tuna_at_risk/index.cfm. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    65. ^ Helfman, Collette & Facey 1997, p. 463
    66. ^ "Threatened and Endangered Species: Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus Fact Sheet". http://www.mt.nrcs.usda.gov/news/factsheets/pallidsturgeon.html. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    67. ^ Spinney, Laura (4 August 2005). "The little fish fight back". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,,1541613,00.html. Retrieved 18 January 2006. 
    68. ^ "Stop That Fish!". The Washington Post. 3 July 2002. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16439-2002Jul2.html. Retrieved 26 August 2007. 
    69. ^ Jaffrey, M.: A Taste of India, Atheneum, p 148, 1988, ISBN 0-689-70726-6
    70. ^ Kwikwetlem First Nation: History & Culture Retrieved on 5 March 2009
    71. ^ Helfman G., Collette B., & Facey D.: The Diversity of Fishes, Blackwell Publishing, p 375, 1997, ISBN 0-86542-256-7

    References

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    Dansk (Danish)
    1.
    n. - fisk, fyr, torpedo, jeton, kip
    v. intr. - fiske, fiske efter, granske
    v. tr. - fiske, affiske

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    spisested der sælger fisk og pommes frites, oftest ud af huset
    • fish cake    fiskefrikadelle
    • fish finger    fiskepind
    • fish knife    fiskekniv
    • fish or cut bait    vælge mellem flere alternativer
    • fish out    fiske frem, tage op
    • fish slice    fiskespade
    • fish story    lystfiskerhistorie, skrøne
    • fish up    fiske up
    • like a fish out of water    som en fisk på landjorden
    • plenty more fish in the sea    flere af slagsen

    2.
    n. - laske
    v. tr. - sammenlaske

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    vissen, duiken, versterken/ herstellen, opvissen, trekken, vis, gezocht/gepakt persoon, persoon, iemand die makkelijk te bedriegen valt, Vissen (Pisces), stukje versterkend ijzer/hout etc., versterkende las, speelstuk

    Français (French)
    1.
    n. - (Zool) poisson, (Culin) poisson
    v. intr. - pêcher, pêcher (littér), (fig) chercher à faire parler, chercher à dénicher, chercher (des compliments)
    v. tr. - pêcher

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    (GB) friterie
    • fish cake    croquette de poisson
    • fish finger    (GB) bâtonnet de poisson
    • fish knife    couteau à poisson
    • fish or cut bait    amorce de poisson entier ou en morceaux
    • fish out    sortir, repêcher
    • fish slice    spatule, pelle à poisson
    • fish story    histoire à dormir debout
    • fish up    repêcher
    • like a fish out of water    pas dans son élément
    • plenty more fish in the sea    un de perdu, dix de retrouvé

    2.
    n. - éclisse
    v. tr. - éclisser

    Deutsch (German)
    1.
    n. - Fisch
    v. - fischen, angeln

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    Fisch und Chips-Laden
    • fish cake    Fischfrikadelle
    • fish finger    Fischstäbchen
    • fish knife    Fischmesser
    • fish or cut bait    (endlich) etwas unternehmen
    • fish out    herausfischen
    • fish slice    Wender
    • fish story    Übertreibung
    • fish up    rausziehen
    • like a fish out of water    wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen
    • plenty more fish in the sea    es gibt noch andere auf der Welt

    2.
    n. - Art Plakette, die zur Befestigung einer Verbindung benutzt wird
    v. - stärken

    Ελληνική (Greek)
    n. - ψάρι(α), (καθομ.) τύπος, άνθρωπος, τορπίλη
    v. - αλιεύω, ψαρεύω, (μτφ.) επιδιώκω

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    "φισάδικο", εστιατόριο που πουλά ψάρι και τηγανητές πατάτες σε πακέτο
    • fish cake    (μαγειρ.) κροκέτα ψαριού, ψαροκεφτές
    • fish finger    κροκέτα ψαριού
    • fish knife    σπάτουλα ψαριού
    • fish or cut bait    ψάρι για δόλωμα
    • fish out    (καθομ.) ανασύρω, ξετρυπώνω
    • fish slice    σπάτουλα σερβιρίσματος ψαριού
    • fish story    απίστευτη ιστορία, παραμύθι
    • fish up    τραβώ έξω από το νερό
    • like a fish out of water    σαν το ψάρι έξω από το νερό
    • plenty more fish in the sea    έχει κι αλλού πορτοκαλιές που κάνουν πορτοκάλια

    Italiano (Italian)
    pescare, pesce

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    rosticceria
    • fish cake    pasticcio di pesce
    • fish finger    crocchetta di pesce
    • fish knife    coltello da pesce
    • fish out    pescare
    • fish slice    paletta per il pesce
    • fish story    grossa balla
    • fish up    pescare
    • like a fish out of water    come un pesce fuor d'acqua
    • plenty more fish in the sea    non é la sola possibilità

    Português (Portuguese)
    n. - peixe (m)
    v. - pescar

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    bar (m) ou restaurante (m) que vende peixe frito e batatas fritas
    • fish cake    bolinho (m) de batata e peixe (Culin.)
    • fish finger    fatias (f pl) de peixe empanado e congelado
    • fish knife    faca (f) de peixe
    • fish out    tirar do fundo (pescar)
    • fish slice    faca para peixe (f) (utensílio de cozinha)
    • fish story    conto (m) extravagante (história de pescador) (coloq.)
    • fish up    suspender (puxar)
    • like a fish out of water    como um peixe fora d'água (fig.)
    • plenty more fish in the sea    outras chances virão (quando algo dá errado)

    Русский (Russian)
    ловить рыбу, рыба, рыбная ловля, Рыба, тип

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    кафе, где подают рыбу с жареной картошкой
    • fish cake    рыбная котлета
    • fish finger    рыбные палочки
    • fish knife    столовый нож для рыбы
    • fish out    найти, добывать, вытаскивать, извлекать
    • fish slice    нож для разрезания рыбы, нож для переворачивания еды на сковороде
    • fish story    охотничья байка, преувеличение
    • fish up    вылавливать, прийти в голову
    • like a fish out of water    не в своей тарелке
    • plenty more fish in the sea    свет клином не сошелся

    Español (Spanish)
    1.
    n. - pez, pescado
    v. intr. - pescar
    v. tr. - pescar

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    puesto de pescado frito y patatas fritas
    • fish cake    medallón de pescado y patata
    • fish finger    croqueta de pescado, palito de pescado
    • fish knife    cuchillo de pescado
    • fish or cut bait    decidirse, dejar de perder tiempo
    • fish out    pescar, sacar, extraer
    • fish slice    utensilio para freír pescado
    • fish story    cuento inverosímil, historia increíble
    • fish up    pescar, sacar, extraer
    • like a fish out of water    como pez fuera del agua
    • plenty more fish in the sea    no es la única persona en el mundo

    2.
    n. - tipo de lámina utilizada para fortalecer articulaciones
    v. tr. - fortalecer con este tipo de lámina

    Svenska (Swedish)
    n. - spelmark, skålning (sjö.), skåla (sjö.), fisk
    v. - fiska, fånga

    中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
    鱼, 鱼类, 鱼肉, 捕鱼, 用钩捞取, 钓鱼, 钓, 查出

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    炸鱼及炸薯条店
    • fish cake    煎鱼饼
    • fish finger    烤鱼条
    • fish knife    食鱼用的刀
    • fish or cut bait    要么全力以赴要么放弃
    • fish out    捞出, 捕尽鱼, 摸索出
    • fish slice    分鱼刀, 煎鱼锅铲
    • fish story    吹牛
    • fish up    拖出
    • like a fish out of water    感到生疏
    • plenty more fish in the sea    还有更多好的...

    中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
    n. - 魚, 魚類, 魚肉
    v. intr. - 捕魚, 用鉤撈取, 釣魚
    v. tr. - 釣, 查出, 釣魚

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    炸魚及炸薯條店
    • fish cake    煎魚餅
    • fish finger    烤魚條
    • fish knife    食魚用的刀
    • fish or cut bait    要全力以赴或是放棄
    • fish out    撈出, 捕盡魚, 摸索出
    • fish slice    分魚刀, 煎魚鍋鏟
    • fish story    吹牛
    • fish up    拖出
    • like a fish out of water    感到生疏
    • plenty more fish in the sea    還有更多好的...

    한국어 (Korean)
    1.
    n. - 물고기
    v. intr. - 낚시질하다
    v. tr. - 낚다, 잡다

    idioms:

    • fish out    (물속의 호주머니에서) ~을 꺼내다, 물고기를 다 잡아 버리다
    • fish up    ~을 꺼내다, 끌어 올리다
    • like a fish out of water    (낯 설어서) 편하지 못한

    2.
    n. - 돛대의 보강재
    v. tr. - (돛대) 부목을 붙여서 보강하다

    日本語 (Japanese)
    n. - 魚, 魚類, 魚肉, 人, 水産動物
    v. - 魚を捕る, で釣りをする, 魚をとる, 引っぱり出す, 探り出そうとする, 得ようとする, 漁をする, 釣る

    idioms:

    • fish and chip shop    フィッシュアンドチップの店
    • fish cake    フィッシュケーキ
    • fish finger    フィッシュスティック
    • fish knife    魚肉用ナイフ
    • fish or cut bait    どちらかにはっきり決める
    • fish out    から魚を捕り尽くす, 探り出す
    • fish slice    魚ナイフ, 魚返し, フライ返し
    • fish story    ほら話
    • fish up    引き揚げる
    • like a fish out of water    勝手が違って

    العربيه (Arabic)
    ‏(الاسم) سمكه , سمك (فعل) يصطاد السمك , يتصيد , يبحث‏

    עברית (Hebrew)
    n. - ‮דג, דגים‬
    v. intr. - ‮דג, חיפש, ניסה להשיג‬
    v. tr. - ‮דג, חיפש, ניסה להשיג‬
    n. - ‮סוג של מנה לחיזוק הגוף‬
    v. tr. - ‮שיפר או חיזק עם מנה מסוג זה‬


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