Swamp Eel
The swamp eels (also written "swamp-eels") are a family (biology), family (Synbranchidae) of freshwater eel-like fishes of the tropics and subtropics. Most species are able to breathe air and typically live in marshes, ponds and damp places, sometimes burying themselves in the mud if the water source dries up. They have various adaptations to suit this lifestyle; they are long and slender, they lack pectoral and pelvic fins, and their dorsal and anal fins are vestigial, making them limbless vertebrates. They lack scales and a swimbladder, and their gills open on the throat in a slit or pore. Oxygen can be absorbed through the lining of the mouth and pharynx, which is rich in blood vessels and acts as a "lung". Although adult swamp eels have virtually no fins, the larvae have large pectoral fins which they use to fan water over their bodies, thus ensuring gas exchange before their adult breathing apparatus develops. When about a fortnight old they shed these fins and assume the ad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Synbranchiformes
Synbranchiformes, often called swamp eels, though that name can also refer specifically to Synbranchidae, is an order of ray-finned fishes that are eel-like but have spiny rays, indicating that they belong to the superorder Acanthopterygii. Taxonomy No synbrachiform fossil is known. The Mastacembeloidei were removed from the Perciformes and added to the Synbranchiformes after a phylogenetic analysis by Johnson and Patterson. These authors consider the Synbranchiformes to be part of a monophyletic group called Smegmamorpha, also containing Mugilimorpha, Atherinomorpha, Gasterosteiformes, and Elassomatidae. Later authors have proposed that the Synbranchiformes along with the Anabantiformes, Carangiformes, Istiophoriformes and Pleuronectiformes form a sister clade to the Ovalentaria which has been called the "Carangimorpharia" but in the 5th Edition of Fishes of the World this clade remained unnamed and unranked. There are a total of about 99 species divided over 15 gene ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stir Frying
Stir frying ( zh, c= 炒, p=chǎo, w=ch'ao3, cy=cháau) is a cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and the West. It is similar to sautéing in Western cooking technique. Wok frying may have been used as early as the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) for drying grain, not for cooking. It was not until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) that the wok reached its modern shape and allowed quick cooking in hot oil. However, there is research indicating that metal woks and stir-frying of dishes were already popular in the Song dynasty (960–1279), and stir-frying as a cooking technique is mentioned in the 6th-century AD Qimin Yaoshu. Stir frying has been recommended as a healthy and appealing method of preparing vegetables, meats, and fish, provided calories are kept at a reasonable level. The English-lan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gill
A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist. The microscopic structure of a gill presents a large surface area to the external environment. Branchia (: branchiae) is the zoologists' name for gills (from Ancient Greek ). With the exception of some aquatic insects, the filaments and lamella (surface anatomy), lamellae (folds) contain blood or Coelom#Coelomic fluid, coelomic fluid, from which gases are exchanged through the thin walls. The blood carries oxygen to other parts of the body. Carbon dioxide passes from the blood through the thin gill tissue into the water. Gills or gill-like organs, located in different parts of the body, are found in various groups of aquatic animals, including Mollusc, molluscs, crustaceans, insects, fish, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cavefish
Cavefish or cave fish is a generic term for fresh and brackish water fish adapted to life in caves and other underground habitats. Related terms are subterranean fish, Troglomorphism, troglomorphic fish, troglobitic fish, stygobitic fish, phreatic fish, and hypogean fish.Romero, Aldemaro, editor (2001). ''The Biology of Hypogean Fishes.'' Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes. Helfman, G.S. (2007). ''Fish Conservation: A Guide to Understanding and Restoring Global Aquatic Biodiversity and Fishery Resources'', pp. 41–42. Island Press. There are more than 200 Species description, scientifically described species of obligate cavefish found on all continents, except Antarctica. Although widespread as a group, many species have very small ranges and are Threatened species, threatened.Fenolio, D.B.; Zhao, Y.; Niemiller, M.L.; and Stout, J. (2013). ''In-situ observations of seven enigmatic cave loaches and one cave barbel from Guangxi, China, with notes on conservation sta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scale (zoology)
In zoology, a scale (; ) is a small rigid plate (animal anatomy), plate made out of keratin that grows out of Vertebrate animals' skin to provide protection. In lepidopterans (butterflies and moths), scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, made out of chitin instead of keratin, and provide coloration. Scales are quite common and have evolved multiple times through convergent evolution, with varying structure and function. Scales are generally classified as part of an organism's integumentary system. There are various types of scales according to the shape and class (biology), class of an animal. Fish scales Fish scales are skin, dermally derived, specifically in the mesoderm. This fact distinguishes them from reptile scales paleontologically. Genetically, the same genes involved in tooth and hair development in mammals are also involved in scale development. File:Ganoid scales.png, Ganoid scales on a carboniferous fish ''Amblypterus striatus'' File:Denticules cutan� ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Caudal Fin
Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only by muscles. Fish fins are distinctive anatomical features with varying structures among different clades: in ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii), fins are mainly composed of bony spines or rays covered by a thin stretch of scaleless skin; in lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) such as coelacanths and lungfish, fins are short rays based around a muscular central bud supported by jointed bones; in cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes) and jawless fish (Agnatha), fins are fleshy " flippers" supported by a cartilaginous skeleton. Fins at different locations of the fish body serve different purposes, and are divided into two groups: the midsagittal ''unpaired fins'' and the more laterally located ''paired fins''. Unpaired fins are predominan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anal Fin
Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only by muscles. Fish fins are distinctive anatomical features with varying structures among different clades: in ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii), fins are mainly composed of bony spines or rays covered by a thin stretch of scaleless skin; in lobe-finned fish ( Sarcopterygii) such as coelacanths and lungfish, fins are short rays based around a muscular central bud supported by jointed bones; in cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes) and jawless fish ( Agnatha), fins are fleshy " flippers" supported by a cartilaginous skeleton. Fins at different locations of the fish body serve different purposes, and are divided into two groups: the midsagittal ''unpaired fins'' and the more laterally located ''paired fins''. Unpaired fins are pr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dorsal Fin
A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found in most fish, in mammals such as whales, and in extinct ancient marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs. Most have only one dorsal fin, but some have two or three. Wildlife biologists often use the distinctive nicks and wear patterns which develop on the dorsal fins of whales to identify individuals in the field. The bones or cartilages that support the dorsal fin in fish are called pterygiophores. Functions The main purpose of the dorsal fin is usually to stabilize the animal against rolling and to assist in sudden turns. Some species have further adapted their dorsal fins to other uses. The sunfish uses the dorsal fin (and the anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to ge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pelvic Fin
Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods, which evolved from lobe-finned fish during the Middle Devonian. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two endochondrally-derived bony girdles attached to bony radials. Dermal fin rays ( lepidotrichia) are positioned distally from the radials. There are three pairs of muscles each on the dorsal and ventral side of the pelvic fin girdle that abduct and adduct the fin from the body. Pelvic fin structures can be extremely specialized in actinopterygians. Gobiids and lumpsuckers modify their pelvic fins into a sucker disk that allow them to adhere to the substrate or climb structures, such as waterfalls. In priapiumfish, males have modified their pelvic structures into ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pectoral Fin
Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column, back bone and are supported only by muscles. Fish fins are distinctive anatomical features with varying structures among different clades: in ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii), fins are mainly composed of bone, bony spine (zoology), spines or ray (fish fin anatomy), rays covered by a thin stretch of fish scale, scaleless skin; in lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) such as coelacanths and lungfish, fins are short rays based around a muscular central limb bud, bud supported by appendicular skeleton, jointed bones; in cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes) and jawless fish (Agnatha), fins are fleshy "flipper (anatomy), flippers" supported by a cartilaginous skeleton. Fins at different locations of the fish body serve different purposes, and are ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monopterus Indicus
The Bombay swamp eel (''Ophichthys indicus''), also known as the paytop in Marathi, is a species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. It is endemic to the state of Maharashtra in India. Taxonomy It was at first classified in the genus ''Amphipnous'', but it was later moved to '' Monopterus''. However a 2020 study found it to form a distinct clade with about 4 other species also previously classified in ''Monopterus'', and the genus '' Ophichthys'' was thus revived to contain them. Distribution This species is thought to be endemic to the northern Western Ghats of India, in the state of Maharashtra. It is currently known from 5-10 localities: Robber's Cave and Dhobi Falls in Mahabaleshwar, Kanheri Falls near Kanheri Caves in Mumbai, and the Tamhini and Tail Baila areas in Pune. However, it is thought to occur in other localities as well. Habitat The species inhabits swamps and marshy areas associated with hill streams. During the early part of the monsoon season, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marbled Swamp Eel
''Synbranchus marmoratus'', the marbled swamp eel, neotropical swamp eel, marmorated swamp eel, mottled swamp eel, zange, or muçum is a species of swamp eel native to Central and South America, including the island of Trinidad and Grenada. Description The marbled swamp eel has an elongated cylindrical body and can grow to a maximum length of about , although a more normal adult length is . The dorsal and anal fins are vestigial and the paired pectoral and pelvic fins are missing altogether. The lining of the mouth is rich in blood vessels and provides an additional surface for gas exchange when the swamp eel breathes air. Ecology When in water, the marbled swamp eel is able to use its fully functional gills to breathe, whereas on land it can breathe with the lining of the mouth and pharynx. It is a nocturnal predator and feeds on any small prey in its environment such as frogs, tadpoles, fish, spiders, insects and other invertebrates. It moves through dense vegetation on rive ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |