Breeding Betta Fish Parent Selection

Diversity Of Fish ... Unlike groupings such as birds or mammals, fish are not a single clade but a paraphyletic collection of taxa, including jawless, cartilaginous and skeletal types... Lampreys attached to a lake trout Mouth of a sea lamprey Pacific hagfish resting on bottom at 280 m Stir-fried hagfish, from Korean cuisine Cartilaginous fish Cartilaginous fish have a cartilaginous skeleton... Because cartilaginous fish do not have bone marrow, the spleen and special tissue around the gonads produces red blood cells...

Cat ... Cats are similar in anatomy to the other felids, with strong, flexible bodies, quick reflexes, sharp retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey. As crepuscular predators, cats use their acute hearing and ability to see in near darkness to locate prey...

Angling ... In many parts of the world, size limits apply to certain species, meaning fish below and/or above a certain size must, by law, be released... Among the many species of salt water fish that are caught for sport are swordfish, marlin, tuna, salmon and halibut... In Europe a large number of anglers fish for species such as carp, pike, tench, rudd, roach, European perch and barbel (especially in stillwaters)...

Fishkeeping ... In the tropics, tropical fish can be kept in garden ponds, but in the temperate zone species such as goldfish, koi, and orfe work better... Marine aquaria can be exceedingly beautiful, due to the attractive colors and shapes of the corals and the coral reef fish they host... Temperate zone marine fish are not as commonly kept in home aquaria, primarily because they do not thrive at room temperature...

Vision In Fishes ... The ratio of rods to cones depends on the ecology of the fish species concerned, e.g., those mainly active during the day in clear waters will have more cones than those living in low light environments...

Fish Farming ... There is an increasing demand for fish and fish protein, which has resulted in widespread overfishing in wild fisheries... However, farming carnivorous fish, such as salmon, does not always reduce pressure on wild fisheries, since carnivorous farmed fish are usually fed fishmeal and fish oil extracted from wild forage fish... The global returns for fish farming recorded by the FAO in 2008 totalled 33.8 million tonnes worth about $US 60 billion...

Fish (food) ... The modern English word for fish comes from the Old English fisc (plural: fiscas) which was pronounced as it is today... There are issues with fish contaminated with heavy metals such as mercury and lead, or by toxic chemicals such as those containing chlorine or bromine, dioxins or PCBs... Mercury Fish products have been shown to contain varying amounts of heavy metals, particularly mercury and fat-soluble pollutants from water pollution...

Cleaner Fish ... The symbiosis does not break down because the abundance of these parasites varies significantly seasonally and spatially, and the overall benefit to the larger fish outweighs any cheating on the part of the smaller... Mimicry Many cleaner fish have a distinctive combination of a long narrow body, a longitudinal stripe, a blue colour, and small size... "Convergent signalling among cleaners, using size, stripes and colour, should facilitate their recognition by fish clients." The sabre-toothed blenny Aspidontus taeniatus is a blenny that mimics the ritualised dance the cleaner wrasse makes when passing fish swim by...

Disease In Ornamental Fish ... Due to their generally small size and the low cost of replacing diseased or dead fish, the cost of testing and treating diseases is often seen as more trouble than the value of the fish... Issues in diagnosis and treatment Due to the artificially limited volume of water and high concentration of fish in most aquarium tanks, communicable diseases often affect most or all fish in a tank... An improper nitrogen cycle, inappropriate aquarium plants and potentially harmful freshwater invertebrates can directly harm or add to the stresses on ornamental fish in a tank...

Fish Diseases And Parasites ... Specific defences are specialised responses to particular pathogens recognised by the fish's body, that is adaptative immune responses. In recent years, vaccines have become widely used in aquaculture and ornamental fish, for example vaccines for furunculosis in farmed salmon and koi herpes virus in koi...

Fish Anatomy ... The caudal peduncle is the narrow part of the fish's body to which the caudal or tail fin is attached. The hypural joint is the joint between the caudal fin and the last of the vertebrae...

Bird Vision ... Birds, unlike us but like fish, amphibians and reptiles, have four types of colour receptors in the eye. These give birds the ability to perceive not only the visible range but also the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, and other adaptations allow for the detection of polarised light or magnetic fields...

Aquaculture ... The reported output from global aquaculture operations would supply one half of the fish and shellfish that is directly consumed by humans; however, there are issues about the reliability of the reported figures... Further, in current aquaculture practice, products from several pounds of wild fish are used to produce one pound of a piscivorous fish like salmon... Particular kinds of aquaculture include fish farming, shrimp farming, oyster farming, algaculture (such as seaweed farming), and the cultivation of ornamental fish...

Fishing Bait ... Studies show that natural baits like croaker and shrimp are more recognized by the fish and are more readily accepted... Artificial baits See also: Fishing lures and Artificial fly Many people prefer to fish solely with lures, which are artificial baits designed to entice fish to strike... Natural baits See also: Bait fish The natural bait angler, with few exceptions, will use a common prey species of the fish as an attractant...

Scale (anatomy) ... They come in two forms: Cycloid scales have a smooth outer edge, and are most common on fish with soft fin rays, such as salmon and carp... Ctenoid scales have a toothed outer edge, and are usually found on fish with spiny fin rays, such as bass and crappie...

Bird ... Modern birds are characterised by feathers, a beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. All living species of birds have wings—the now extinct flightless moa of New Zealand were the only exception...

Sustainable Seafood ... Nonprofit groups addressing seafood sustainability include the Marine Stewardship Council, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Oceana, John G. Shedd Aquarium and Greenpeace...

Fishing Industry ... The commercial activity is aimed at the delivery of fish and other seafood products for human consumption or as input factors in other industrial processes... Commercial sector The commercial sector of the fishing industry comprises the following chain: Commercial fishing and fish farming which produce the fish Fish processing which produce the fish products Marketing of the fish products World production Fish are harvested by commercial fishing and aquaculture... According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world harvest in 2005 consisted of 93.3 million tonnes captured by commercial fishing in wild fisheries, plus 48.1 million tonnes produced by fish farms...

Cultural Depictions Of Cats ... Black cats are generally held to be unlucky in the United States and Europe, and to portend good luck in the United Kingdom. In the latter country, a black cat entering a house or ship is a good omen, and a sailor's wife should have a black cat for her husband's safety on the sea...

Live Fish Trade ... The live food fish trade is a global system that links fishing communities with markets, primarily in Hong Kong and mainland China... Consumer demand Within the live food trade there are certain types of fish demanded more often by consumers, particularly smaller and medium-sized fish... According to the book While Stocks Last: The Live Reef Food Fish Trade consumer demand has caused the fish captured on coral reefs to be the most valued fish in the trade...