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Greenland Shark
The Greenland shark (''Somniosus microcephalus''), also known as the gurry shark, grey shark, or by the Kalaallisut name ''eqalussuaq'', is a large shark of the family Somniosidae ("sleeper sharks"), closely related to the Pacific and southern sleeper sharks. The distribution of this species is mostly restricted to the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean; however, more recent evidence indicates that at great depths it may range as far south as the Caribbean. The Greenland shark has the longest known lifespan of all vertebrate species (estimated to be between 250 and 500 years), and is among the largest extant species of shark. It is a generalist feeder, consuming a variety of available foods. As an adaptation to living at depth, it has a high concentration of trimethylamine ''N''-oxide in its tissues, which causes the meat to be toxic. Greenland shark flesh, treated to reduce toxin levels, is eaten in Iceland as a delicacy known as '' kæstur hákarl''. As it li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcus Elieser Bloch
Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) was a German physician and naturalist who is best known for his contribution to ichthyology through his multi-volume catalog of plates illustrating the fishes of the world. Brought up in a Hebrew-speaking Jewish family, he learned German and Latin and studied anatomy before settling in Berlin as a physician. He amassed a large natural history collection, particularly of fish specimens. He is generally considered one of the most important ichthyology, ichthyologists of the 18th century, and wrote many papers on natural history, comparative anatomy, and physiology. Life Bloch was born at Ansbach in 1723 where his father was a Torah writer and his mother owned a small shop. Educated at home in Hebrew literature he became a private tutor in Hamburg for a Jewish surgeon. Here he learned German, Latin and anatomy. He then studied medicine in Berlin and received a doctorate in 1762 from Frankfurt (Oder), Frankfort on the Oder with a treatise on skin dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generalist And Specialist Species
A generalist species is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources (for example, a heterotroph with a varied diet). A specialist species can thrive only in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet. Most organisms do not all fit neatly into either group, however. Some species are highly specialized (the most extreme case being monophagous, eating one specific type of food), others less so, and some can tolerate many different environments. In other words, there is a continuum from highly specialized to broadly generalist species. Description Omnivores are usually generalists. Herbivores are often specialists, but those that eat a variety of plants may be considered generalists. A well-known example of a specialist animal is the monophagous koala, which subsists almost entirely on eucalyptus leaves. The raccoon is a generalist, because it has a natural range that includes most of North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anarhichas
''Anarhichas'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolffishes or sea wolves. These fishes are found in the northern North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. Taxonomy ''Anarhichas'' was first proposed as a genus by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of the ''Systema Naturae'' when he described its type species ''A. lupus'', from the "northern English Ocean". The genus is one of two genera in the family Anarhichadidae, which is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes in the suborder Zoarcoidei by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World. The genus name ''Anarhichas'' is an Ancient Greek name for the Atlantic wolffish (''A. lupus'') and means “the climber,” in turn derived from the Greek ''anarrhichesis'' which means, “to climb or scramble up” , this may be an allusion to the ancient belief that wolffishes left the water and climbed up on the rocks. Species ''Anarhichas'' has four species classified within it: * ''Anarhichas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lumpfish
The Cyclopteridae are a family of marine fishes, commonly known as lumpsuckers or lumpfish, in the order Scorpaeniformes. They are found in the cold waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific oceans. The greatest number of species are found in the North Pacific. The family name ''Cyclopteridae'' derives from the Greek words ''κύκλος'' (kyklos), meaning "circle", and ''πτέρυξ'' (pteryx), meaning "wing" or "fin", in reference to the circle-shaped pectoral fins of most of the fish in this family. Description Lumpsuckers are named appropriately enough; their portly bodies are nearly spherical with generally drab coloration and lithic patterns. The "sucker" part refers to the fish's modified pelvic fins, which have evolved into adhesive discs (located ventrally, behind the pectoral fins); the fish use these discs to adhere to the substrate. Many species have bony, wart-like ''tubercles'' adorning the head and body; these are important taxonomic features of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sculpin
A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand across species of marine sculpin.''Zoology'' (Jena) 115(4), 223-32. As of 2006, this superfamily contains 7 families, 94 genera, and 387 species. Sculpins occur in many types of habitat, including ocean and freshwater zones. They live in rivers, submarine canyons, kelp forests, and shallow littoral habitat types, such as tidepools. Sculpins are benthic fish, dwelling on the bottoms of water bodies. Their pectoral fins are smooth on the upper edge and webbed with sharp rays along the lower edge, a modification that makes them specialized for gripping the substrate. This adaptation helps the fish anchor in fast-flowing water. The sculpin normally grows to about four inches long. Families and subfamilies Families include: * Jordaniidae Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rose Fish
''Sebastes norvegicus'', the rose fish, ocean perch, Atlantic redfish, Norway haddock, golden redfish or pinkbelly rosefish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large, slow-growing, late-maturing fish and the subject of a fishery. Taxonomy ''Sebastes norvegicus'' was first formally described as ''Perca norvegicus'' in 1772 by the Norwegian biologist Peter Ascanius with the type locality given as Norway. In the past, the scientific name ''Sebastes marinus'' was frequently used, but this is actually a synonym of ''Serranus scriba''. The specific name refers to the type locality. ''S. norvegicus'' was designated as the type species of the genus ''Sebastes'' by Pieter Bleeker in 1876. This taxon may be a species complex containing at least 2 new cryptic species which had not been named as of 2017. Description ''Sebastes norvegicus'' is a lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arctic Char
The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populations can be lacustrine, riverine, or anadromous, where they return from the ocean to their fresh water birth rivers to spawn. No other freshwater fish is found as far north; it is, for instance, the only fish species in Lake Hazen which extend up to on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. It is one of the rarest fish species in Great Britain and Ireland, found mainly in deep, cold, glacial lakes, and is at risk there from acidification. In other parts of its range, such as the Nordic countries, it is much more common, and is fished extensively. In Siberia, it is known as ''golets'' () and it has been introduced in lakes where it sometimes threatens less hardy endemic species, such as the small-mouth char and the long-finned char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capelin
The capelin or caplin (''Mallotus villosus'') is a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic oceans. In summer, it grazes on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin also eat a great deal of krill and other crustaceans. Among others, whales, seals, Atlantic cod, Atlantic mackerel, squid and seabirds prey on capelin, in particular during the spawning season while the capelin migrate south. Capelin spawn on sand and gravel bottoms or sandy beaches at the age of two to six years. When spawning on beaches, capelin have an extremely high post-spawning mortality rate which, for males, is close to 100%. Males reach in length, while females are up to long. They are olive-coloured dorsally, shading to silver on sides. Males have a translucent ridge on both sides of their bodies. The ventral aspects of the males iridesce reddish at the time of spawn. Capelin migration Capelin populations in the Barents Sea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Herring
Atlantic herring (''Clupea harengus'') is a herring in the family (biology), family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species in the world. Atlantic herrings can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large Shoaling and schooling, schools. They can grow up to in length and weigh up to . They feed on copepods, krill and small fish, while their natural predators are pinniped, seals, whales, cod and other larger fish. The Atlantic herring fishery has long been an important part of the economy of New England and the Canada, Canadian Atlantic provinces. This is because the fish congregate relatively near to the coast in massive schools, notably in the cold waters of the semi-enclosed Gulf of Maine and Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Gulf of St. Lawrence. North Atlantic herring schools have been measured up to in size, containing an estimated 4 billion fish. Description Atlantic herring have a wikt:fusiform, fusiform body. Gill rakers in their mouths fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skate (fish)
Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. More than 150 species have been described, in 17 genera.LAST, P.R. & SÉRET, B. & STEHMANN, M.F.W. & WEIGMANN, S. (2016) Skates, Family Rajidae. In: Last, P.R., White, W.T., Carvalho, M.R. de, Séret, B., Stehmann, M.F.W & Naylor, G.J.P (Eds.) Rays of the World. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne: 204–363 Softnose skates and pygmy skates were previously treated as subfamilies of Rajidae (Arhynchobatinae and Gurgesiellinae), but are now considered as distinct families. Alternatively, the name "skate" is used to refer to the entire order of Rajiformes (families Anacanthobatidae, Arhynchobatidae, Gurgesiellidae and Rajidae). Members of Rajidae are distinguished by a stiff snout and a rostrum that is not reduced. Taxonomy and systematics Evolution Skates belong to the ancient lineage of cartilaginous fishes. Fossil denticles (tooth-like scales in the skin) resembling those of today's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apex Predator
An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic levels. Food chains are often far shorter on land, usually limited to being secondary consumers – for example, wolves prey mostly upon large herbivores (primary consumers), which eat plants (primary producers). The apex predator concept is applied in wildlife management, conservation, and ecotourism. Apex predators have a long evolutionary history, dating at least to the Cambrian period when animals such as ''Anomalocaris'' dominated the seas. Humans have for many centuries interacted with apex predators including the wolf, birds of prey, and cormorants to hunt game animals, birds, and fish respectively. More recently, humans have started interacting with apex predators in new ways. These include interactions via ecotourism, such as with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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