Fischwiki /Words from the water
The glossary.
From adipose fins to swim bladders.
A few useful words for a closer look.
A
- Adipose fin
- A small, rayless fin between the dorsal fin and the tail, typical of salmon and trout, among others.
- Ampullae of Lorenzini
- Electroreceptors in sharks and rays that detect the faint electric fields produced by prey.
- Anadromous
- Growing up at sea and migrating into fresh water to spawn, as the Atlantic salmon does.
B
- Barbel
- A whisker-like sensory organ near the mouth, carrying taste and touch receptors. Found on catfish, carp and cod.
- Brackish water
- A mix of fresh and salt water, as in estuaries or much of the Baltic Sea.
C
- Catadromous
- Growing up in fresh water and migrating to sea to spawn, as the European eel does.
- Chondrichthyes
- Cartilaginous fish: sharks, rays and chimaeras.
- Clavus
- The rudder-like flap that replaces the tail in ocean sunfish.
F
- Filter feeder
- An animal that strains food, usually plankton, out of the water, like the whale shark.
I
- Illicium
- The “fishing rod” of anglerfish: a modified first dorsal spine with a lure at the tip.
- Invasive species
- A species introduced by people to a new region, where it spreads and harms native ecosystems.
L
- Lateral line
- A sensory system along the flanks that registers water movement and pressure changes.
- Leptocephalus
- The transparent, leaf-shaped larva of eels and their relatives.
P
- Pharyngeal teeth
- Teeth on modified gill arches in the throat, used by carp and their relatives to grind food.
R
- Regional endothermy
- The ability to keep parts of the body warmer than the surrounding water, as in tuna and mackerel sharks.
S
- Sarcopterygii
- Lobe-finned fish, including coelacanths and lungfish, and the group from which land vertebrates arose.
- Scute
- A bony external plate, such as the rows along the body of a sturgeon.
- Smolt
- A young salmon or trout that has turned silver and is physiologically ready to move to the sea.
- Spawn
- To release eggs and sperm; also the eggs themselves.
- Swim bladder
- A gas-filled organ that many bony fish use to control buoyancy. Sharks do not have one.