Questions tagged [ichthyology]

Questions relating to the study of fish or icthyology.

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11 votes
1 answer
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Do fish break a water molecule to absorb oxygen?

How do fish separate oxygen from H20 & consume it? Do they break the water molecule and absorb the oxygen only?
Zo Has's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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How do sharks and other fish conserve and gain water in marine environments?

With the osmolarity of the average vertebrate being around 300mOsml, and salt water having an osmolarity of 1000mOsml, why does the water from the shark not leave to the salt water around it? I ...
Will Perry's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
7k views

What happens to deep sea creatures if they reach the surface?

Since deep sea creatures are adapted to incredibly high pressures, I would assume they would not be able to survive in the low pressure environment of the surface. What exactly happens ...
123's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
4k views

Can you get enough water by eating only fish?

Scenario: In a boat in the middle of the sea, no freshwater or food stores, no desalination equipment, no rain, but you can catch fish and eat it raw. Can you get enough water this way to survive, let'...
Jan's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
224 views

Can a shark stall?

Today in marine biology I learned that, like airplanes, sharks use their pectoral fins to generate lift. The question that neither me or my Professor know is if a shark can or cannot stall. A ...
Donovan Cunningham's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
7k views

Do fishes die from old age?

I was watching sea birds eating fishes and wondered whether any fishes died from old age or whether they are all eaten before this can happen? I imagine that some big predator fishes must be able to ...
Félix Gagnon-Grenier's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why are most fishes vertical?

Why do most fishes have a "vertical" body shape instead of a "flat" one ? Here "vertical" means that the body(from a front view) is roughly orthogonal to the horizontal plane, and a "flat" body shape ...
booksee's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
2k views

How does anadromous fish physiology "know" to switch from salt to freshwater and back?

What mechanism allows anadromous fish (like salmon) to switch from salt to fresh water and back? How does the fish "know" to switch its physiology and do other fish possess the biochemical machinery ...
Brinn Belyea's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
107 views

How does Anabantoideis' labyrinth function? What does it look like?

Anabantoideis are fish with an organ that allows them to take oxygen directly from the air outside of water. However, I cannot find much on how this functions, nor can I find any clear image of what ...
E.UCIT's user avatar
  • 31
1 vote
1 answer
742 views

Breathing under water

Why can fish breathe under water but land mammals can't? How can fish extract oxygen straight from water but humans can't?
ashpool's user avatar
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