ABIGAIL TUGADE BS FISHERIES 2A

ASSIGNMENT#1

Assessment Questions:

 Discuss the key characteristics found in all fishes.

- Fishes have an endoskeleton, fins, swim bladders, and a lateral line that allow them to swim
and sense their surroundings underwater. Gills, the major respiratory organ of fishes, are made
up of rows of filaments through which gas enters and blood leaves." They also have closed loop
circulation and kidneys, which play an important role in maintaining a fish's salt and water
balance. The kidney is an organ that controls salt and water balance in the body and eliminates
metabolic wastes from the blood.

 Describe how fishes use their fins.

- Fish use their back and belly fins to increase their stability, and paired fins allow fish to turn,
dive, climb quickly, move forwards, backwards, and up and down in the water.

 Summarize how the countercurrent flow helps a fish obtain oxygen.

- Because of the countercurrent movement, the gills are an extremely efficient respiratory
organ, allowing fish to absorb up to 85% of the dissolved oxygen in the water around them. It
happens when water travels in one direction over the gills while blood flows in the other
direction through the gill capillaries.

 Explain why fresh water fishes excrete more urine than marine fishes do.

-Freshwater fish excrete a small amount of body waste through the grills and the majority of
their body waste through large amounts of diluted urine, whereas saltwater fish excrete a small
amount of urine due to the high salt concentration and excrete the majority of the body's waste
through the gills.

 Contrast reproduction in sharks with that of most other fishes.

- Shark eggs are fertilized within the female's body, whereas other fishes reproduce sexually via
external fertilization.