Warm-blooded is an informal term referring to animal species whose bodies maintain a temperature higher than that of their environment. In particular, homeothermic species maintain a stable body temperature by regulating metabolic processes. Other species have various degrees of thermoregulation.
Osteichthyes, commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of vertebrate animals that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. The vast majority of extant fish are members of Osteichthyes, which is an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of 45 orders, over 435 families and 28,000 species. It is the largest class of vertebrates in existence today.
A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna up to the Atlantic bluefin tuna, which averages 2 m (6.6 ft) and is believed to live up to 50 years.
Swordfish, also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood. These fish are found widely in tropical and temperate parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, and can typically be found from near the surface to a depth of 550 m (1,800 ft), and exceptionally up to depths of 2,234 m. They commonly reach 3 m (10 ft) in length, and the maximum reported is 4.55 m in length and 650 kg (1,430 lb) in weight.
The yellowfin tuna is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.
Alepisaurus ferox, the long snouted lancetfish, longnose lancetfish, or cannibal fish, is a species of lancetfish found in the ocean depths down to 1,830 m (6,000 ft). This species grows to 215 cm (85 in) in total length and a weight of 9 kg (20 lb).
Opahs, also commonly known as moonfish, sunfish, kingfish, and redfin ocean pan are large, colorful, deep-bodied pelagic lampriform fishes comprising the small family Lampridae.
The white marlin, also known as Atlantic white marlin, marlin, skilligalee, is a species of billfish that lives in the epipelagic zone of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean. They are found between the latitudes of 45° N and 45° S in waters deeper than 100 m. Even though white marlin are found in bodies of water that are deeper than 100 m they tend to stay near the surface. White marlin have been found near banks, shoals, and canyons, but they are not limited to those locations. They prefer warm surface temperatures greater than 22 °C.
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.
Bait fish are small-sized fish caught and used by anglers as bait to attract larger predatory fish, particularly game fish. Baitfish species are typically those that are common and breed rapidly, making them easy to catch and in abundant supply.
The billfish are a group of saltwater predatory fish characterised by prominent pointed bills (rostra), and by their large size; some are longer than 4 m (13 ft). Extant billfish include sailfish and marlin, which make up the family Istiophoridae; and swordfish, sole member of the family Xiphiidae. They are often apex predators which feed on a wide variety of smaller fish, crustaceans and cephalopods. These two families are sometimes classified as belonging to the order Istiophoriformes, a group which originated around 71 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous, with the two families diverging around 15 million years ago in the Late Miocene. However, they are also classified as being closely related to the mackerels and tuna within the suborder Scombroidei of the order Perciformes. However, the 5th edition of the Fishes of the World does recognise the Istiophoriformes as a valid order, albeit including the Sphyraenidae, the barracudas.
Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reefs.
The striped marlin is a species of marlin found globally in tropical to temperate oceans not far from the surface. It is a desirable commercial and game fish, although conservation measures are in place to restrict its commercial landings. An epipelagic predator, it hunts during the day in the top 100 metres (330 ft) or so of the water column, often near the surface. One of its chief prey is sardines.
A fish is an aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animal that lacks limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of living fish species are ray-finned fish, belonging to the class Actinopterygii, with around 99% of those being teleosts.
A piscivore is a carnivorous animal that primarily eats fish. The name piscivore is derived from Latin piscis 'fish', and vorō 'to devour'. Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolution ; insectivory came next; then in time, the more terrestrially adapted reptiles and synapsids evolved herbivory.
A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/riverine (freshwater), and rely heavily on the carrying capacity of the local aquatic ecosystem.
The Digital Fish Library (DFL) is a University of California San Diego project funded by the Biological Infrastructure Initiative (DBI) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The DFL creates 2D and 3D visualizations of the internal and external anatomy of fish obtained with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods and makes these publicly available on the web.
Fishing down the food web is the process whereby fisheries in a given ecosystem, "having depleted the large predatory fish on top of the food web, turn to increasingly smaller species, finally ending up with previously spurned small fish and invertebrates".
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fish:
Lampris guttatus, commonly known as the opah, cravo, moonfish, kingfish, and Jerusalem haddock, is a large, colorful, deep-bodied pelagic lampriform fish belonging to the family Lampridae, which comprises the genus Lampris.
