Author: Margaret Brooks / Source: Daily Facts Daily
Fish are more than relaxing pets to watch or a source of food. They play vital roles in maintaining several aquatic ecosystems, and they even help clean up waste and toxins in some areas. Some fish live in the deepest parts of the ocean where the pressure is strong enough to crush modern submarines.
Once you start digging, the number of fantastic fish facts is remarkable. Let’s explore some fish facts.The grammar behind the words fish and fishes is an interesting fact on its own. The word fish is used to describe a fish or multiple fish from the same species of fish. For example, a single large mouth bass is a fish, and five large mouth bass are merely called five fish. The word fishes is used to describe multiple fish from different species. Five large mouth bass and five small mouth bass are referred to as ten fishes.
Hagfish and lampreys evolved quickly and, like sharks, haven’t needed to change much in a long time. They are the only two fish considered primitive or unchanged throughout much of the fossil record. Today, scientists still debate whether the lamprey and hagfish are evolving or devolving. The presence of a skull but no vertebrae usually sparks the debate.
The Coelacanth is probably the most remarkable ancient fish species. It disappeared from the fossil record right after the Cretaceous period about sixty-five million years ago. That’s not unusual since a lot of fish and animals went extinct and left the fossil record at random times. The exciting thing about the Coelacanth is it wasn’t gone. A fisherman caught one in 1938 off the east coast of Africa.
Sharks are among the most ancient fish species we know about today. Sharks predate dinosaurs by about 200 million years. They evolved into the predators we know today very quickly and haven’t needed to change much in the last few hundred millennia.
Less than 100 million years after the first life on Earth began to evolve, sharks have been swimming in the planet’s oceans. Sharks can raise their body temperature to aid them in hunting in colder waters.
Lungfish don’t always need water to survive. They popped up on the fossil record not long after sharks and, like sharks, are still with us today. The lungfish creates a slimy cocoon in the ground when it’s water supply begins to dry up.
They live in their cocoon until the water returns and breathe through a built-in snorkel. They have gills and lungs to help them survive in water or out of the water. The oldest known fish was a lungfish that lived for sixty-five years.
Fish were the first lifeforms on Earth to develop bones. They didn’t have scales or any of the features we are familiar with except their dorsal fin. Most early fish closely resembled eels or chubby sharks. Today’s sharks don’t have bones, but it’s possible their ancestors had skulls if nothing else. Most early fish species developed skulls before they developed bones.
The Social Lives of Fishes
Some fish reproduce by laying eggs. The female creates a nest in sandy areas or lays her eggs on underwater debris. The male comes along and fertilizes the eggs. Depending on the fish species, the male or female stays with the eggs until they hatch, in most cases. Some fish, like sharks, give birth to live offspring called pups.
Fish can communicate with other fish using a complex language of sounds that range from wailing noises to low pitched moans. They lack vocal chords but use their muscles and bones to generate these sounds. They don’t use…
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