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Monday 2 February 2015

Fish (Animal)

FISH IN HISTORY

The round fish bowl was invented by Countess Dubarry (1743 – 1793). She was a mistress of France's King Louis XV.

The Whale Shark is the largest fish – the biggest caught was 59 foot in 1919.

The first fish in space was a mummichog carried on Skylab 3 in July 1973.

A male Australian lungfish called Granddad, the world's oldest aquarium fish, passed away on February 5, 2017 at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium at nearly 100 years old.

In 2006 it was calculated that  90% of the world’s stock of large predatory fish, including tuna, swordfish, cod, halibut and flounder, had disappeared in the preceding 50 years.

FUN FISH FACTS

The word “school” has been used for a group of fish since the early 15th century.

The word “fish” is plural only when you’re describing multiple members of the same species, according to The New York Times. So, 20 yellowfin tuna are fish, but a group of 20 yellowfin tuna plus one skipjack tuna would be fishes. 

The first global marine life census was released in 2010 and listed 16,764 species of fish.

There are more species of fish than amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals combined.

According to the latest estimates, there may be 31 billion tonnes of fish in the oceans.

Ninety-five per cent of fish live in the mesopelagic zone, 200-1000 meters under water.

Freshwater fish don't drink water, it just enters through their gills, but saltwater fish must drink tons of water and filter out the salt.

The biggest fish in the world is the giant whale shark which can grow to a length of around 60ft.

The extinct leedsichthys is the largest known member of the Osteichthyes or bony fishes, with an estimated length of up to 16 meters (52 ft).

Fish communicate with each other by rasping their teeth to make sounds in their throat, or by using their swim bladder to create sounds.

Of the 20,000 different known species of fish, only about 800 are able to produce sounds and vocalizations.

Fish can become seasick if kept aboard a ship.

A newly hatched fish is called a "fry."

The top swimming speed of a fish is generally around ten times its own length per second.

The age of a fish can be determined by its number of fish scales.

UNUSUAL FISH

The sailfish, which grows to around 10 feet in length is the fastest swimming fish. It has been clocked at 68 mph, faster than the cheetah (the fastest land animal, clocked at 62 mph).

Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Florida, USA, in the 1940s, with a sailfish he had caught

The Oolichan is a fish that is so oily, up to 15% of its total body weight is fat. If caught, dried, and strung on a wick, it can be burned as a candle. Thus it is also known as the "candlefish."

The climbing gouramis are so named due to their ability to "climb" out of water and "walk" short distances.

Mudskippers are amphibious fish that use their fins to walk on land and can breathe through their skin.


Mudskippers have a special cavity behind their ears to store seawater.

The flying gurnard, a fish, swims in water, walks on land, and flies through the air.

The Ambon damselfish possesses the capacity for facial recognition—ordinary among humans, but unique in fish.

The anglerfish is named for its predation technique. An antenna protruding from the bony fish's head lures prey into the kill.

The Antarctic ice fish, which have antifreeze in their blood, live permanently at -1°C.

The deepest-living fish we know is the small, translucent hadal snailfish. These have been found more than five miles (8 kms) down, where they can withstand pressure 800 times that at the surface.

Sloane's viperfish holds the world record for largest teeth relative to head size in a fish. It has teeth so large that it must open its mouth to make the jaws vertical before it can swallow prey.

Sloane's viperfish

The stonefish, which lives off the coast of Australia, is the most poisonous fish in the world.

Cleaner fish help out other fish by removing parasites and dead skin from their scales.

In 2015 the opal was discovered to be the first fully warm blooded fish that circulates heat throughout its body much like mammals and birds. 

1 comment:

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