Known Facts About Fish
A fish is a water-dwelling animal that breathes through gills and has a backbone, fins and a two-chambered heart. If you're the incurious sort, that may be all you care to know about them -- other than perhaps which ones taste better with cocktail or tartar sauce. But for those of us who fancy fish, they're endlessly fascinating creatures, about whom we can't learn enough
They range from tiny creatures that would fit on a fingernail to monsters the size of cabin cruisers. They can sleep with their eyes open, taste without using their mouths and float without casting a shadow. Learn more fun fish facts on the following pages.
5: You've Probably Never Seen the World's Most Common Fish
If you're expecting it to be a tuna, flounder or goldfish, guess again. The most common type of fish on the planet is one humans rarely see. Why? Because it's small, ingeniously camouflaged and lives between 100 and 250 fathoms down in the ocean. It's the bristlemouth, a member of the genus Cyclothone.
The bristlemouth clan are humble, homely creatures with stubby bodies and tiny eyes, and they're mostly mouth and fins. Size-wise, they're unimposing. Most species grow to no more than three inches in length. But the bristlemouth has one outstanding piece of equipment: two rows of photophores, or light-emitting organs, on its underside, which it uses to prevent itself from a casting shadow its predators might spy. Its predators include shrimp, which gives you a sense of how puny this fish is.
4: The Biggest Fish is No Tough Guy
The big kahuna of the fish world is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which lives in semi-tropical and warm temperate waters around the world and grows to more than 65 feet, weighing nearly 40 tons. With its tremendous length, gigantic blunt head and polka-dot pattern, the whale shark looks like the prototype for Roy Scheider's worst nightmare. In reality, the big fellas are pretty much harmless. They're so docile, in fact, that they've been known to allow swimmers to hitch rides on their backs. They're filter eaters, rather than biters, and feed on a diet of tiny plankton, small fishes, crustaceans and squid. They live to the age of about 70, unless humans harpoon them and grind them up into fish meal.
A fish is a water-dwelling animal that breathes through gills and has a backbone, fins and a two-chambered heart. If you're the incurious sort, that may be all you care to know about them -- other than perhaps which ones taste better with cocktail or tartar sauce. But for those of us who fancy fish, they're endlessly fascinating creatures, about whom we can't learn enough
They range from tiny creatures that would fit on a fingernail to monsters the size of cabin cruisers. They can sleep with their eyes open, taste without using their mouths and float without casting a shadow. Learn more fun fish facts on the following pages.
5: You've Probably Never Seen the World's Most Common Fish
If you're expecting it to be a tuna, flounder or goldfish, guess again. The most common type of fish on the planet is one humans rarely see. Why? Because it's small, ingeniously camouflaged and lives between 100 and 250 fathoms down in the ocean. It's the bristlemouth, a member of the genus Cyclothone.
The bristlemouth clan are humble, homely creatures with stubby bodies and tiny eyes, and they're mostly mouth and fins. Size-wise, they're unimposing. Most species grow to no more than three inches in length. But the bristlemouth has one outstanding piece of equipment: two rows of photophores, or light-emitting organs, on its underside, which it uses to prevent itself from a casting shadow its predators might spy. Its predators include shrimp, which gives you a sense of how puny this fish is.
4: The Biggest Fish is No Tough Guy
The big kahuna of the fish world is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which lives in semi-tropical and warm temperate waters around the world and grows to more than 65 feet, weighing nearly 40 tons. With its tremendous length, gigantic blunt head and polka-dot pattern, the whale shark looks like the prototype for Roy Scheider's worst nightmare. In reality, the big fellas are pretty much harmless. They're so docile, in fact, that they've been known to allow swimmers to hitch rides on their backs. They're filter eaters, rather than biters, and feed on a diet of tiny plankton, small fishes, crustaceans and squid. They live to the age of about 70, unless humans harpoon them and grind them up into fish meal.
A fish is a water-dwelling animal that breathes through gills and has a backbone, fins and a two-chambered heart. If you're the incurious sort, that may be all you care to know about them -- other than perhaps which ones taste better with cocktail or tartar sauce. But for those of us who fancy fish, they're endlessly fascinating creatures, about whom we can't learn enough
They range from tiny creatures that would fit on a fingernail to monsters the size of cabin cruisers. They can sleep with their eyes open, taste without using their mouths and float without casting a shadow. Learn more fun fish facts on the following pages.
5: You've Probably Never Seen the World's Most Common Fish
If you're expecting it to be a tuna, flounder or goldfish, guess again. The most common type of fish on the planet is one humans rarely see. Why? Because it's small, ingeniously camouflaged and lives between 100 and 250 fathoms down in the ocean. It's the bristlemouth, a member of the genus Cyclothone.
The bristlemouth clan are humble, homely creatures with stubby bodies and tiny eyes, and they're mostly mouth and fins. Size-wise, they're unimposing. Most species grow to no more than three inches in length. But the bristlemouth has one outstanding piece of equipment: two rows of photophores, or light-emitting organs, on its underside, which it uses to prevent itself from a casting shadow its predators might spy. Its predators include shrimp, which gives you a sense of how puny this fish is.
4: The Biggest Fish is No Tough Guy
The big kahuna of the fish world is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which lives in semi-tropical and warm temperate waters around the world and grows to more than 65 feet, weighing nearly 40 tons. With its tremendous length, gigantic blunt head and polka-dot pattern, the whale shark looks like the prototype for Roy Scheider's worst nightmare. In reality, the big fellas are pretty much harmless. They're so docile, in fact, that they've been known to allow swimmers to hitch rides on their backs. They're filter eaters, rather than biters, and feed on a diet of tiny plankton, small fishes, crustaceans and squid. They live to the age of about 70, unless humans harpoon them and grind them up into fish meal.
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