Chapter 4

Fish Diversity
Fishes are the most abundant vertebrates in the world.

 Fish are the most

diverse
vertebrates.

Note
 Fish Diversity cont.

 Fish are very diverse and are categorized in many ways.

 According to FishBase (global species database), 34,300
Species, 326,500 Common names, 59,900 Pictures of fish
had been described by Dec. 2019.

 That is more than the combined total of all other

vertebrates: mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds.

 There are more than 50,000 species of vertebrates in the
aquatic environment and more than half of these are (=
25,000) fishes.

Note
 Fish Diversity cont.

 Out of 25,000 species:

85 species are jawless fishes (Hagfish and Lamprey),

850 species are cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays) and
24, 000 species are bony fishes.

Note
 Fish Diversity

Fishes are highly diverse be it in marine, freshwater and between

the two.

 58 percent species of fish are marine fish,

 41% of fish are freshwater fish and

 1% is between the two.

 Note that marine water accounts 97.5%, freshwater 2.5% and

brackish water is the remaining percent.

 Therefore; freshwater (rivers and lakes) have high fish diversity

than marine water.

Note
 Vertebrates evolution

jawless fish sharks bony fish amphibians reptiles birds monotremes placental mammals

 If we look on the vertebrates evolution we will see that the most earlier
vertebrates are the fish.
• The first were the jawless fish then cartilaginous fish like shark were evolved
and later the bony fish.
• Amphibians were evolved from bony fish.
The first vertebrates
Ostracoderms were evolved during the
Cambrian era and were the precursors of
two fish types: Agnatha and Gnatha.

Ostracodermi

Placodermi

Following the extinction of the Placoderms

– new fishes types, the Osteichthyes and
Chondrichthyes occupied the seas.
 All fishes, belong to: Classes:- Agnatha

 Kingdom: Animalia Chondrichthyes

Osteichthyes
 Phylum: Chordata
 Class: Agnatha (= jawless fish)
 Subclass Cyclostomata (hagfish and lampreys)
 Subclass Ostracodermi (armoured jawless fish) – extinct group*
Placodermi (= armoured fish) – extinct group*
 Endoskeleton and exoskeleton was made up of bony- armor Jaws
were primitive
 Eg. Climatius, Palaeospondylus.
Acanthodii (‘spiny sharks’, sometimes classified under bony fishes) –
extinct*

Note
 Class Chondrichthyes (= cartilaginous fish)

Subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks and rayes)

Subclass Holocephali (chimaeras and extinct relatives*)

Class Osteichthyes (= bony fishes)

Subclass Actinopterygii (= ray finned fishes)

Subclass Sarcopterygii (= fleshy finned fishes, ancestor of tetrapods)

 Fish are very diverse and their diversity can be expressed:
 species number, body sizes, habitat type, age, sexuality, brooding
& feeding behavior, locomotion.
 Fish systematics is the formal description and organization
of fish taxa into systems.
Note
 1. By species
Fish systematics is the formal description and organization of fish taxa into
systems.

A) Agnathan Fishes/ Jawless fish

Agnathan fishes are generally primitive group characterized by:

 They have no jaw, no scales, no paired fins, and no bony skeleton.

 Their skin is smooth and soft to the touch, and they are very flexible.

 Instead of a jaw, they possess an oral sucker.

 They use this to fasten on to other fish, and then use their rasp-
like teeth to grind through their host's skin into the viscera.
 Possession of notochord instead of vertebral column.
 The term “cyclostome” has been derived from two words “cyclo”
meaning circular; and “stome” meaning mouth opening.
 Extant jawless fish are either lamprey or hagfish.
 Juvenile lamprey feed by sucking up mud containing micro-
organisms and organic debris.
 The lamprey has well-developed eyes, while the hagfish has only
primitive eyespots.

Mouth of a sea lamprey Pacific

Table 4.2. Comparison of the two living groups of agnathan fishes
B) Gnathostoman Fishes

Generally they are advanced group over agnathan fishes.

They possess paired fins and other characteristics of fish.

They have jaws.

Have 4 classes; Placodermi, Acanthodi, Chondrichthyes and

Osteichthyes.
i. Chondrichthyes

They are cartilaginous fishes, b/c of their endoskeleton made up of cartilage.

Moreover, they are characterized by

Lack of swim bladders,

Different tail fin construction,

Lack of a gill covering (operculum), and a

Skin covered with tooth-like structures called denticles or placoid scales

They are almost exclusively marine in distribution.

ii. Osteichthyes
They are bony fishes because of their possession of bony endoskeleton
They possess swim bladder.
Swim bladder functions as a float or, in a few fishes, modified to become
lung .

Swim Bladder- a gas-filled sac that allows them to regulate their buoyant

density and so remain suspended at any depth in the water.

 swim bladder in bony fish is used to increase buoyancy and in turn
decreases the body weight of fish for easier swimming.
The bony fishes are divided into two major subgroups:
 subclass Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes)
 Subclass Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Sarcopterigians Bony Fishes-are characterized by their possession of fleshy

fins with a central supporting bone and distantly located paired fins.

These bony fishes are subdivided into two groups: Dipnoi (lungfishes) and

Crossopterygii (e.g. Coelacanth).

In evolution it is assumed that crossopterygians are the earliest bony fishes

that probably gave rise to the actinopterygian on one side and to the

tetrapods on the other hand.

Actinopterygian Bony Fishes-are bony fishes having supporting structures
known as rays in their fins.
In this group of bony fishes the paired fins are closely located in contrast to
those of the Sarcopterygian bony fishes.

These bony fishes are the most highly successful and diverse of all the fishes

and include over 95% of all living fish species predominating in both the fresh

and marine waters.

Thus, they represent an advanced adaptation of the bony fishes to strictly
aquatic conditions.

Actinopterygian bony fishes are in turn subdivided into three subgroups

namely chondrostei, holostei and teleostei.

Chondrostei, Holostei and Teleostei

Chondrostei and holostei are bony fishes that have soft cartilaginous rays in

their fins whereas teleostes have strong spiny rays in their fins.

Examples include:

Chondrostei: sturgeons, bichirs, paddlefishes, spoon fishes and

 Holostei: bowfin, garpikes, gars, etc.

 Teleosteis-are the most advanced and the most numerous groups of living fishes

that are classified in to a large number of orders, families, genera, etc.

Teleosts are fish groups that are important as food and thus important in fishery.
4.2. Diversity by Size, Habitat Type and Age
Fishes come in various body sizes ranging from about 7.9mm (e.g.
Paedocypris progenetica or minnow fish) to about 20m long (e.g. whale
shark).
The whale shark is the largest living fish (human shown for comparison).

Fishes occur both in freshwater and marine environments, within which they
occupy various types of habitats.
 littoral (i.e. live closer to shore),
 pelagic (i.e. live in the open water), and
 Pelagic fishes, in turn, occur at various depths of water column. For instance:

 epipelagic fishes occupy a depth of 0 to 200 m;

 mesopelagic fishes occupy 200-1000 m depth and

 bathypelagic fishes inhabit a depth below 1000 m, which is very cold.

Fishes also vary in terms of their age ranging from the shortest lived fishes

(e.g. goby fishes-whose age is of a few days) to the longest lived fishes (e.g.

orange roughly-whose ages can reach hundreds of years).

 Migration
 Most bony fishes have small home ranges. Food and habitat availability,

Reproduction and tempertature change may be causes of migration for

some species.
Diadromous: bony fish species migrate between fresh and marine
environments.

Catadromous: fishes migrate from freshwater to the ocean environments

to spawn. The freshwater eel (family Anguillidae) develop in marine

environments but moe into freshwater rivers to live.

Anadromous: Fishes migrate from marine into freshwater environments to
spawn.
4.3. Diversity by Sexuality and Brooding Behavior

With respect to pattern of sexuality

• some fishes are gonochores (i.e. heterosexuals),

• some are hermaphrodites (i.e. bisexuals) and a few are unisexual.

Brooding- refers to the behaviors of fishes in which they protect

and care their eggs and/or young employing various mechanisms.

Most of the fishes; Nile tilapia are mouth brooders protecting

their eggs and young by keeping them in the mouth

Other fishes (e.g. seahorses) are pouch brooders nourishing their

offspring in a pouch or sac like the mammalian Kangaroo do.

The parent (i.e. the male or the female) that broods or takes care

of the eggs and young fish varies among various species.

In some fishes males are responsible for brooding (this is called

paternal brooding -e.g. Sarotherodon melanotheron),

in others females are responsible (this is called maternal brooding-

e.g. Oreochromis niloticus)

in other fishes both parents are responsible for brooding (this is

called biparental brooding -e.g. a catfish species called

Phyllonemus typus).
4.4. Diversity by Feeding Behavior

• Fishes have diverse feeding behavior.

• Fishes vary with respect to their:

 feeding habits,

 types of food taken,

 mechanism of food capture and

 time of feeding
a) According to their feeding habits

• Some are parasites (e.g., Lampreys),

• Some are scavengers (e.g., Hagfish),

• Some are planktivorous (e.g., Whale shark and some bony fishes),

• Some are detritivores (e.g., Some bony fishes),

• Some are piscivorous (e.g., bony fish; nile perch, catfish, etc)

• Some are molluscivorous (e.g., Some bony fishes) and

• Some are omnivores (e.g., Some bony fishes).

b) According to type of food taken

• Generalist (e.g. omnivorous fishes)

• specialist (e.g. planktivorous fishes)

c) According to the mechanism of food capture

• some are filter feeders that obtain their food by filtering water,

• some are predators,

• some are grazers and some are pickers.

c) In relation to the time of feeding

• some fishes are diurnal feeding during daytime,

• some are nocturnal feeding during night or dark time,

• some are crepuscular feeding during dawn and dusk.