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How to Cold-Read a Fish

How to Cold-Read a Fish. Vertebrates Backbone CNS with brain Bilateral symmetry Sexual reproduction. Fishes have: Jaws Gills Paired fins Scales (usually) Cold-blood (almost always). What is a fish, anyway?. Fish vs. Fishes. How to memorize 25,000 fish…. Don’t memorize…read them

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How to Cold-Read a Fish

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  1. How to Cold-Read a Fish

  2. Vertebrates Backbone CNS with brain Bilateral symmetry Sexual reproduction Fishes have: Jaws Gills Paired fins Scales (usually) Cold-blood (almost always) What is a fish, anyway? • Fish vs. Fishes

  3. How to memorize 25,000 fish… • Don’t memorize…read them • Take clues from: • Body shape • Fins • Mouth • Senses • Color/patterns • Habitat

  4. Fins on the football • Fusiform • Paired fins • Pectoral fins • Pelvic fins • Unpaired fins • Dorsal • Anal • Caudal • Modified fins

  5. Fish sense • Eyes • Size • Position • Nostrils/nares • Position • Shape • Other • Barbels • Lateral line

  6. Fish mouths • Mouth position • Point up – surface food and oxygen • Point down – prey on or near the bottom • Point forward – AKA terminal, chase food • Size and shape • Inside • Teeth – all over • Rakers – filtering

  7. Staying out of trouble • Armor • Spines • Skin color • Countershading • Disruptive coloration • Cryptic coloration • Silver and red • Imitation • Schooling

  8. Eco-shapes • Rover predators • Fusiform, terminal mouth, forked tail, evenly placed fins • Lie-in-wait predators • Fins far back • Surface-oriented • Upturned mouth, large eyes, dorsal back

  9. Eco-shapes • Bottom fish – flat, camouflaged • Rovers – goatfish • Clingers – sculpins, clingfishes • Flatfishes • Rattails • Deep-bodied • Smooshed, pecs, small mouth, large eyes, spines • Eel-like - eely

  10. Habitat is context • Individual adaptations may only make sense in the context of a fish’s habitat • Specific challenges

  11. Body shape Fusiform Flattened Eel-like Deep-bodied Fins Tail shape Pectoral fins Dorsal/anal fins Modified fins Spines? Senses Eyes Nostrils/nares Barbels Mouth Position Size and shape Skin color Silvery/counter-shaded Cryptic/disruptive Eyespots, etc. How to cold-read a fish

  12. Tell me about this fish

  13. What about me?

  14. Me?

  15. What about me?

  16. And us?

  17. Curveballs

  18. Phantasmagoric Fish Stories • It’s all about resource partitioning • Extreme specialization leads to… Freaks!

  19. Freaky feeders • Archer fish • Arawana • Dusky damsel • Angler fishes • Gulper eels • Electric fishes • Cichlids • Vege piranhas

  20. Bizarre sex stories • The mile-high club • Splash tetra • Lonely and loving it • Functional hermaphrodites • Lancets, tripods • Transvestites and transsexuals • Sneaker males • Changing with age, population composition • Omega males • Deep sea anglers • Amazon Molly

  21. We could go on • World’s smallest vertebrate • Ice-fishes • Anti-freeze in blood • Rivulines • Eggs to adults in 4 weeks, dead in a year • Elephant fishes • Huge brains (3%) • Tarpon can drown • Walking catfish • Swimmer’s surprise • Swamp eels • Can live out of water for up to 6 months • Telescope/tripod • Flying fish • 30 sec, 1m high, 200m • Four-eyed fish • Pearlfish

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