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A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as well as possible hydrodynamic advantages.
Aristotle (ca. 340 B.C.) may have been the first scientist to speculate on the use of hard parts of fishes to determine age, stating in Historica Animalium that “the age of a scaly fish may be told by the size and hardness of its scales.” [4] However, it was not until the development of the microscope that more detailed studies were performed on the structure of scales. [5]
Meristics is an area of zoology and botany which relates to counting quantitative features of animals and plants, such as the number of fins or scales in fish.A meristic (countable trait) can be used to describe a particular species, or used to identify an unknown species.
Cosmine was first described in the Osteolepiform Megalichthys hibberti by Williamson in 1849, in a purely descriptive, pre-Darwinian, non-evolutionary framework. [4] Goodrich [5] expanded on Williamson's descriptions, hypothesizing a transition from a monoodontode scale (like a chondryicthian placoid scale) to a complex polyodontode scale through fusion of discrete units.
Age can be determined by counting growth rings in fish scales, otoliths, cross-sections of fin spines for species with thick spines such as triggerfish, [2] or teeth for a few species. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Each method has its merits and drawbacks.
The scales are small but well visible, and some may be black and form isolated dark spots on the lower sides. The dorsal, pelvic and anal fins each have 8 rays. The pectoral fins are broad and have 13–18, but more usually 15–16, rays. The fish has no teeth, adipose fin, or spines. The mouth is relatively small and the tail is forked.
The mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) is one of the most widely distributed salmonid fish of western North America. [3] It is found from the Mackenzie River drainage in Northwest Territories, Canada through western Canada and the northwestern USA in the Pacific, Hudson Bay and upper Missouri River basins to the Truckee River drainage in Nevada and Sevier River drainage in Utah.
The current International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record for a white crappie is 2.35 kg (5.2 lb), caught on July 31, 1957, near Enid Dam, Mississippi, by angler Fred Bright, while the IGFA all-tackle length world record is a 39-centimetre (15 in) fish, caught on October 14, 2022, in Grenada Lake, Mississippi, by angler Doug Borries.