- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
One fish, two fish, red fish, nearly thirty thousand species of fishâor fishes, as they are properly called when speaking of multiple species. This is but one of many things the authors of this fascinatingly informative book reveal in answering common and not-so-common questions about this ubiquitous group of animals.
Fishes range in size from tiny gobies to the massive Ocean Sunfish, which weighs thousands of pounds. They live in just about every body of water on the planet. Ichthyologists Gene Helfman and Bruce Collette provide accurate, entertaining, and sometimes surprising answers to over 100 questions about these water dwellers, such as "How many kinds of fishes are there?" "Can fishes breathe air?" "How smart are fishes?" and "Do fishes feel pain?" They explain how bony fishes evolved, the relationship between them and sharks, and why there is so much color variation among species. Along the way we also learn about the Devils Hole Pupfish, which has the smallest range of any vertebrate in the world; Lota lota, the only freshwater fish to spawn under ice; the Candiru, a pencil-thin Amazonian catfish that lodges itself in a very personal place on male bathers and must be removed surgically; and many other curiosities.
With more than 100 photographsâincluding two full-color photo galleriesâand the most up-to-date facts on the world's fishes from two premier experts, this fun book is the perfect bait for any curious naturalist, angler, or aquarist.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Introducing Fishes
- 2 Form and Function of Fishes
- 3 Fish Colors
- 4 Fish Behavior
- 5 Fish Ecology
- 6 Reproduction and Development of Fishes
- 7 Fish Foods and Feeding
- 8 Fishes and Humans
- 9 Fish Problems (from a human viewpoint)
- 10 Human Problems (from a fishâs viewpoint)
- 11 Fishes in Stories and Literature
- 12 âFishologyâ
- Appendix A: The Classification of Fishes
- Appendix B: Some Organizations That Promote Ichthyology and the Conservation of Fishes
- Bibliography
- Index