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Homeostasis – maintaining internal equilibrium
• The endocrine and autonomic nervous system controls
physiological responses (keeps systems in balance)
• Fishes must keep their body temperature within a certain range
for normal body functions to continue
– Every body process is basically a chemical reaction and
temperatures that are too high or low will stop the reaction
• The endocrine system is a network of tissues that emit chemical
signals (hormones) that travel thru the body and affect cells
with the proper molecular receptors
• The hypothalamus region of the brain regulates the pituitary
gland, the main endocrine tissue in vertebrates
– As an example, vasopressin is a hormone released by the
pituitary into the bloodstream that affects the kidney’s
ability to absorb water, salts, and sugars, therefore affecting
bili b b l d h f ff i
homeostasis
– Also:
• Gonadotropins stimulate gonads
• Thyroid
Thyroid‐stimulating
stimulating hormones
hormones control metabolic rate
control metabolic rate
• Cortisol is stress hormone that increases blood sugar and
heart rate
• Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland and regulates
daily activities as a response to light
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• Temperature relationships
– Most fishes are ectothermic (cold‐blooded) so their body
temperature is very close to that of surrounding water
• This happens because most fish lack mechanisms for heat
production and retention
• Animals (birds and mammals, few fish and reptiles) that
control their internal temperature by retaining heat
produced by muscles using fat, fur, and feathers are
produced by muscles using fat, fur, and feathers are
endothermic (warm‐blooded)
• One reason most are ectothermic is because when blood
flows thru gills it is cooled by water, similar to a radiator
• The few fish that do keep a high internal temperature are called
heterothermic because not all of the body is kept warm, mostly
just the core
• To cope with low temperatures, fishes can regulate the amount
of saturated (butter) and unsaturated (vegetable oil) oils in cell
membranes to keep them from freezing
• Heterotherms
– Mostly large, active, pelagic marine fish (tuna, marlin, some
sharks and rays)
– Internal body heat keeps swim muscles, the gut, brain, and
eyes warm
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– A modification of the circulatory system (rete mirabile) keeps
heat from escaping the body core or eyes and brain using a
countercurrent heat exchange system
• The biggest problem with cold temperatures is formation of ice
crystals in cells which will puncture cell walls and cause the cell
to die (fluids in fishes freezes at about ‐0.7° C)
– In freshwater, this is not a problem because water freezes
and forms ice on the surface and the water below stays a bit
df i th f d th t b l t bit
above freezing (0°C)
– Because of dissolved ions in seawater, it freezes at ‐1.9°C
which is below the freezing point of fishes and marine fish
deal with this in several ways
• Some produce antifreeze (various proteins) in their liver
which bind to minute ice crystals and prevent their
growth
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• Some deep water marine fishes must avoid touching ice
crystals (not a problem in deep water) or they will
instantly freeze
• Some can increase salt concentration in the blood and
lower their freezing point
• Osmoregulation – regulating ion concentration in the blood
– Fishes that can tolerate only small changes in ion
concentration in the water are stenohaline and those that can
regulate internal ion concentrations in a wide range of
environmental salinities are euryhaline
environmental salinities are euryhaline
– Gills are one of the main organs for eliminating nitrogenous
wastes as ammonia (NH3)
• Ammonia is very toxic so can’t be stored in the body but is
easily dissolved in water (so fish must be in water for this
to work
• Fish that can live out of water for extended periods
(lungfish) will produce urea (NH2)X2 and store it in the
body until it returns to water
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– The kidneys also filter nitrogenous waste from blood (along
with salts) and stores urine in the bladder
• The bladder is an important organ for balancing salt
concentration in the body
– In freshwater fish, salts are removed from urine
– In marine fish, water is removed and salts added to
urine
– Hagfish are known as osmoconformers and are the only
vertebrates that have ion concentrations equal to that of
seawater
Buoyancy and locomotion
• Challenge of buoyancy – fish are more dense than surroundings
so they need a system to control vertical position
• Water is about 800 X more dense and 50 X more viscous than air
– It requires a lot of energy to move thru water and the problem
is compounded by the low O2 levels in water
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Buoyancy Methods
1. Swim/gas bladders:
• Physostome ‐ an open duct between the gas bladder and the
esophagus allows fish to gulp air to fill the bladder but also
esophagus allows fish to gulp air to fill the bladder but also
has a gas gland
• Physoclist ‐ no duct exists but has a gas gland to fill bladder
2. Fast moving fishes do not have gas bladders due to difficulty in
equalizing pressures quickly so they create lift with pectoral fins
during rapid locomotion
3. Large quantities of fats in the body
– Fast swimmers need some aid since they lack swim bladders:
sharks, mackerels, bluefish, tuna
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• Anatomical adaptations for buoyancy:
– Lifting surfaces at anterior part of body act as pectoral fins
or flippers
or flippers
– Heterocercal tail ‐ upper lobe larger and better developed
• Generally, more advanced forms (bass, carp) have passive
means for buoyancy (swim bladders) and primitive forms
(
(shark, sturgeon) have active means requiring continuous
, g ) q g
motion; requires less energy for passive
Fig. 3.7 – Adaptations for lift for fast-moving and primitive fishes
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Locomotion
• Undulating the body
– The tail provides movement for many fishes
– Short, stubby fish with a narrow peduncle and lunate
(quarter‐moon shape) tail usually are fast‐swimmers
– Cetaceans (whales, dolphins) have a similar tail but
positioned for up and down movement rather than side to
side
• Some fishes undulate fins and keep the body stationary (manta
ray, ocean sunfish) and are usually slower fishes
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Adaptations to Reduce Surface Resistance
• 3 types of resistance/drag must be dealt with:
1. Frictional resistance – proportional to the amount of surface
area in contact with water (sphere is best)
area in contact with water (sphere is best)
2. Form resistance – the drag is proportional to the cross‐
sectional area of the object in contact with water (long and
thin shapes are best)
3 Induced
3. Induced drag (turbulence)
drag (turbulence) – from changes in speed and
from changes in speed and
direction of the flow around a fast object that creates
vortices/eddies
• Laminar flow (smooth flow around small or slow‐moving
large animals) is disrupted into eddies as speed increases
Drag forces on various shapes as they move through water (a) flat
disk (b) cylinder (c) teardrop shape
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• We also see streamlined external bodies without protuberances
– Parts are recessed into grooves and elevated only when
needed (e.g., pectoral/pelvic fins, genitalia)
– No scales in fast‐swimming fishes
– Whales, dolphin, and tuna approach the ideal shape (ratio
between greatest body diameter and length) for moving large
objects through water with the lowest resistance
objects through water with the lowest resistance
• The ideal shape is like an elongated teardrop
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