Fish Vocab

Fish Vocabulary for Zoology Class

Osteichthyes

Jawed fish with skeletons composed of bone

Operculum

Hard plate that covers, protects, and works like a pump to circulate water over the gills.

Cartilage

Lightweight, strong, flexible tissue

Nephrons

Tube like unit that regulate salt and water levels in the body.

Agnathans

Jawless fish, like hagfish or lampreys.

Ventricle

Second chamber of the heart. Pumps blood to the gills to pick up oxygen.

Scale

Hard plate like structure on the skin of most fish.

Gill-Filaments

Finger like projections through which gasses are exchanged.

Chondrichthyes

Cartilaginous jawed fish

Spawning

Type of external fertilization that most fish use, where sperm and egg are released near one another

Single Loop

Type of circulation of blood that fish have

Swim Bladder

Bony fish use this special gas filled sac to stay bouyant

Vertebrae

Individual segments that make up a backbone

Lateral Line

Sensory system that extends along the sides of a bony fish’s body

Lobe Finned

Lone fleshy fins supported by a central core of bones

Atrium

The first chamber of the heart. Pumps blood to the ventricle