Fishes of the World pptx

[...]... In all, the greatest number of fish species in the world inhabit the southeastern Asian region 05_250317 intro.qxd 12/13/05 7:48 PM Distribution and Biogeography Page 13 13 Broad surface thermal zones of the ocean, biogeographic regions of the continents, and native distribution of the family Cyprinidae, the most species-rich family of vertebrates The biogeographical regions express degrees of endemism... plesiomorphies are the primitive states and do not indi- 05_250317 intro.qxd 10 12/13/05 7:48 PM Page 10 Fishes of the World cate the existence of sister groups) The sister group possessing more apomorphic character states relative to the other is the derived group, while the other is the primitive one; each is given or is understood to have the same taxonomic rank A common source of disagreement is... throughout life and limbs, if any, in the shape of fins The body of information known about fishes is vast and includes all facets of biology Fishes are attractive to researchers because of the wealth of information and diversity still to be found, both in fossil and living (extant) taxa, including basic information on the world s fish faunas The field of ichthyology, the study of fish systematics, is enormously... in both the Pacific and Atlantic, but, almost always, different species are involved Representatives of many marine genera and of some species occur in the temperate and polar faunas of both hemispheres Individuals of some of these bipolar or antitropical taxa are surface-bound; others are deepwater The vast majority of species, however, are tropical; most of the rest occur only in the Northern or... have evolved endothermy for at least part of their body Internal fertilization occurs in certain species, and females of some of these species provide nutrients to developing embryos Some exhibit parental care for their offspring, and others scatter millions of eggs to the hazards of predation Whereas most fishes are gonochoristic (fixed sexual pattern), many are hermaphroditic Most of the latter are... The primary task of the systematist is to seek an understanding of the evolutionary history of life The systematist must also deal with such matters as how to spell the names of taxa that have variant names in the literature—a matter that sometimes tries one’s patience It is surely frustrating and confusing, especially for the nonsystematist, to find differences in the spelling of taxonomic names There... are of immense concern in some parts of the world Fishes are also the subject of international and domestic agreements and disagreements Many government institutions are devoted to the study of their biology and propagation Particular aspects of various species lend themselves to studies in behavior, ecology, evolution, genetics, and physiology They are used as general indicators or summators of pollution,... waters, the Indo-West Pacific (Red Sea and Indian Ocean to northern Australia and Polynesia) is the richest, with the most species occurring in the New Guinea to Queensland area In terms of diversity, southeastern Africa and Queensland appear to have the largest number of families of marine shorefish The West Indian or Caribbean fauna (southern Florida to northern Brazil) is also a rich one The western... members on the “Committee on Names of Fishes , a joint committee of the American Fisheries Society and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, in writing the 2004 book “Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.” Information acquired in writing that book was helpful in writing this one One of my greatest professional joys was receiving the Robert... one another; for example, in many families the tropical eastern Pacific shows a greater resemblance to the western Atlantic than to the Indo-West Pacific because of the mid-Pacific barrier and the relatively recent marine connection across the Isthmus of Panama Information on the generalized thermal zones is based partly on Briggs (1974) and modified by numerous other sources Distribution of the family . dominated the writing of the previous editions of Fishes of the World (Nelson, 1976, 1984, 1994): to present a modern introductory systemat- ic treatment of all. w0 h0" alt="" Fishes of the World 01_250317 ffirs.qxd 12/13/05 7:33 PM Page i 01_250317 ffirs.qxd 12/13/05 7:33 PM Page ii Fishes of the World Fourth Edition Joseph