Endangered Animals: Fish

Endangered Animals: Fish book cover — FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS ENDANGERED ANIMALS FISH BROWN BEAR BOOKS

Endangered Animals: Fish — page 1 — What is a Fish everyone can recognize a fish At least everyone thinks they can until they begin to explore the term fish in a little detail Exceptions to the Rules It is of course quite ridiculous to state that an animal is a fish just because it lives in water dolphins whales leeches lobsters sea cucumbers and numerous other aquatic organisms destroy this argument right away It could be said that a fish can be identified by the fact that it has scales on its body but that again is misleading There are other organisms such as reptiles crocodiles turtles lizards and so on that have scales but are not fish Even such animals as birds have scales on their legs The other side of this coin is that not all animals that are known to be fish have scales For example catfish of the family Pimelodidae are naked There are also numerous other examples of scaleless fish All fish however have gills But so have other aquatic Salmon and their relatives exhibit the classic characteristics we associate with fish but these characteristics are not common to all fish 4 The oceanic sunfish is a giant of the open seas that does not fit the traditional image of what a fish should be like organisms Newt larvae salamander tadpoles and the incredible neotenous axolotl salamandrid have gills yet they are not fish We can make another rule Fish are not only aquatic and have gills they also have fins This still fails as a definition however because there are animals such as cuttlefish and squids that are aquatic breathe by means of gills and have fins yet these animals are mollusks One important distinguishing factor though is that in cuttlefish and squids the internal organs are found inside a mantle cavity Fish do not have a mantle cavity They do however have an internal skeleton but so have cuttlefish and squids the cuttlebone and pen respectively So do starfish and their close relatives the urchins their skeleton consists of calcareous plates overlain with thin surface tissue What cuttlefish and urchins do not have is a cranium braincase or skull Here at last is the definitive characteristic or is it Not quite If it were then lampreys and the other jawless fish would also be real fish but they are not generally regarded as being so They do have a skull of sorts even though it is largely a covered cartilage trough However they have so many other nonfish characteristics the absence of a backbone two instead of three semicircular canals in the ear gills that are arranged almost back-to-front when compared with normal

Endangered Animals: Fish

Endangered Animals: Fish

Describes various fish that are endangered and at risk of becoming extinct. Data Sheet sidebars and maps accompany the text"--Provided by publisher.

About This Book

By: Tim Harris

Illustrated by:

Published by: Brown Bear Books by Black Rabbit Books

9-12Age Range

7.5+AR

62Pages

Sea LifeSubject

1220LLexile

1-2 hoursReading Time

ZGuided Reading

ZFountas & Pinnell

80DRA

0

‹

PAGE 0 OF 61

Epic is the leading digital reading platform—built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world’s best publishers—that safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

EPIC

Epic Originals Books Gifts Redeem Gift

FOR EDUCATORS

Epic School Admin Portal Educator Resources School Privacy Promise

ABOUT

About Epic Careers Press Blog

CONTACT US

Help & Support Press Inquiries Publisher Inquiries

EPIC

Epic Originals Books Gifts Redeem Gift

FOR EDUCATORS

Epic School Admin Portal Educator Resources School Privacy Promise

ABOUT

About Epic Careers Press Blog

CONTACT US

Help & Support Press Inquiries Publisher Inquiries

DOWNLOAD EPIC

© Copyright Epic Kids Inc. All rights reserved.

Terms & Conditions

Privacy Policy