fish in Biological News

Freshwater fish at the top of the food chain evolve more slowly

Durham, NC For avid fishermen and anglers, the largemouth bass is a favorite freshwater fish with an appetite for minnows. A new study finds that once they evolved to eat other fish, largemouth bass and fellow fish-feeders have remained relatively unchanged compared with their insect- and snail-e...

UH team analyzes Hurricane Ike's effects on waterways, fish contamination

A long-term environmental research project being conducted at the University of Houston may offer important information about the effects of Hurricane Ike on pollution levels and help regulators determine whether existing fish-consumption advisories remain appropriate. With this year's storm se...

First direct evidence of substantial fish consumption by early modern humans in China

Freshwater fish are an important part of the diet of many peoples around the world, but it has been unclear when fish became an important part of the year-round diet for early humans. A new study by an international team of researchers, including Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., professor of anthropolog...

Two is not company -- as far as fish are concerned

It might be assumed that aquarium fish don't mind who or what they encounter in their tanks from one minute to the next, if their famously (but incorrectly) short memory is to be believed. Scientists at the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter have carried out research to show this is not the case ...

High carbon dioxide levels cause abnormally large fish ear bones

Rising carbon dioxide levels in the ocean have been shown to adversely affect shell-forming creatures and corals, and now a new study by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has shown for the first time that CO2 can impact a fundamental bodily structure in fish. A ...

Discovery of a water snake that startles fish in a way that makes them flee into its jaws

Forget the old folk tales about snakes hypnotizing their prey. The tentacled snake from South East Asia has developed a more effective technique. The small water snake has found a way to startle its prey so that the fish turn toward the snake's head to flee instead of turning away. In addition, th...

Common fish species has 'human' ability to learn

Although worlds apart, the way fish learn could be closer to humans' way of thinking than previously believed, suggests a new research study. A common species of fish which is found across Europe including the UK, called the nine-spined stickleback, could be the first animal shown to exhibit an...

Study shows transfer of heavy metals from water to fish in Huelva estuary

A team of researchers from the University of Cadiz has confirmed that zinc, copper and lead are present at high levels in the water and sediments of the Huelva estuary, and have studied how some of these heavy metals are transferred to fish. The study shows that zinc, cadmium and copper accumulate...

Hatchery fish may hurt efforts to sustain wild salmon runs

CORVALLIS, Ore. Steelhead trout that are originally bred in hatcheries are so genetically impaired that, even if they survive and reproduce in the wild, their offspring will also be significantly less successful at reproducing, according to a new study published today by researchers from Oregon S...

Lenfest forage fish task force launched

May 28, 2009 -- The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University has launched the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force, a team of 13 preeminent scientists from around the world that will develop management plans to tackle the unprecedented depletion of forage fish from our oceans. ...

Disappearing act of world's second largest fish explained

Researchers have discovered where basking sharks the world's second largest fish hide out for half of every year, according to a report published online on May 7th in Current Biology , a Cell Press publication. The discovery revises scientists' understanding of the iconic species and highlights...

Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men's risk of heart failure

BOSTON Eating salmon or other fatty fish just once a week helped reduce men's risk of heart failure, adding to growing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are of benefit to cardiac health. Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and reported in today's on-line issue of t...

Study assesses impact of fish stocking on aquatic insects

The impact fish stocking has on aquatic insects in mountain lakes can be rapidly reversed by removing non-native trout, according to a study completed by U.S. Forest Service and University of California, Davis, scientists. Their findings appear in a current online issue of the journal Freshwater...

You don't call, you don't write: Connectivity in marine fish populations

Children of baby boomers aren't the only ones who have taken to setting up home far from where their parents live. A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documents how larval dispersal connects marine fish populations in a network of marine protect...

Cleaning up oil spills can kill more fish than spills themselves, say Queen's biologists

Kingston, ON A new Queen's University study shows that detergents used to clean up spills of diesel oil actually increase its toxicity to fish, making it more harmful. "The detergents may be the best way to treat spills in the long term because the dispersed oil is diluted and degraded," says...

Teenage boys who eat fish at least once a week achieve higher intelligence scores

Fifteen-year-old males who ate fish at least once a week displayed higher cognitive skills at the age of 18 than those who it ate it less frequently, according to a study of nearly 4,000 teenagers published in the March issue of Acta Paediatrica . Eating fish once a week was enough to increa...

DNA evidence is in, newly discovered species of fish dubbed H. psychedelica

"Psychedelica" seems the perfect name for a species of fish that is a wild swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes and behaves in ways contrary to its brethren. So says University of Washington's Ted Pietsch, who is the first to describe the new species in the scientific literature and thus the one ...

Lake Michigan fish populations threatened by decline of tiny creature

The quick decline of a tiny shrimp-like species, known scientifically as Diporeia , is related to the aggressive population growth of non-native quagga mussels in the Great Lakes, say NOAA scientists. As invasive mussel numbers increase, food sources for Diporeia and many aquatic species have s...

When fish farms are built along the coast, where does the waste go?

If you are a fish eater, it's likely that the salmon you had for dinner was not caught in the wild, but was instead grown in a mesh cage submerged in the open water of oceans or bays. Fish farming, a relatively inexpensive way to provide cheap protein to a growing world population, now supplies, b...

Study says 'middle class' coral reef fish feel the economic squeeze

The economy isn't just squeezing the middle class on land, it's also affecting fish. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations, researchers discovered a surprising correlation between "middle class" communities in Eastern Africa and low fish levels....

Rise or fall of reef fish driven by both economy and ecology

Overfishing on coral reefs isn't simply caused by too many people, according to a new report published in the February 10th issue of Current Biology , a Cell Press publication. Rather, the researchers found that the biomass of fish found on coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean depended mostly ...

Research project to boost European fish farming

Europe is the part of the world that is most dependent on fish imports. This situation is due in part to the drastic cuts in local sea fish quotas and the collapse of fish stocks, which have also been observed in Sweden. The increased level of imports may have several consequences: low supply and ...

UBC researcher gives first-ever estimate of worldwide fish biomass and impact on climate change

Are there really plenty of fish in the sea? University of British Columbia fisheries researcher Villy Christensen gives the first-ever estimate of total fish biomass in our oceans: Two billion tonnes. And fish play a previously unrecognized but significant role in mitigating climate change by m...

Ocean fish farming harms wild fish, study says

Honolulu, HIFarming of fish in ocean cages is fundamentally harmful to wild fish, according to an essay in this week's Conservation Biology . Using basic physics, Professor Neil Frazer of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa explains how farm fish cause...

Details of evolutionary transition from fish to land animals revealed

New research has provided the first detailed look at the internal head skeleton of Tiktaalik roseae , the 375-million-year-old fossil animal that represents an important intermediate step in the evolutionary transition from fish to animals that walked on land. Results of the study, published...

Primordial fish had rudimentary fingers

Tetrapods, the first four-legged land animals, are regarded as the first organisms that had fingers and toes. Now researchers at Uppsala University can show that this is wrong. Using medical x-rays, they found rudiments of fingers in the fins in fossil Panderichthys, the transitional animal, whi...

'Armored' fish study helps strengthen Darwin's natural selection theory

Shedding some genetically induced excess baggage may have helped a tiny fish thrive in freshwater and outsize its marine ancestors, according to a UBC study published today in Science Express . Measuring three to 10 centimetres long, stickleback fish originated in the ocean but began populatin...

Genetics reveals big fish that almost got away

Researchers from the University of Hawaii, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, National Marine Fisheries Service and Projecto Meros do Brazil discovered a new species of fisha grouper that reaches more than six feet in length and can weigh nearly 1,000 poun...

Eat oily fish at least once a week to protect your eyesight in old age

Eating oily fish once a week may reduce age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is the major cause of blindness and poor vision in adults in western countries and the third cause of global blindness, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . The...

Male fish deceive rivals about their top mate choice

When competitors are around, male Atlantic mollies try to hide their top mate choice, reveals a new study published online on July 31st in Current Biology , a Cell Press journal. They feign disinterest in females after onlookers enter the scene. What's more, after encountering a rival, the tr...

Eating fish may explain very low levels of heart disease in Japan

PITTSBURGH, July 28 Consuming large quantities of fish loaded with omega-3 fatty acids may explain low levels of heart disease in Japan, according to a study led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health slated for the Aug. 5 issue of the Journal of the American College of...

Sorry, Charlie, you and Nemo aren't the only fish that talk

Talking fish are no strangers to Americans. From the comedic portrayal of "Mr. Limpet" by Don Knotts, to the children's Disney favorite, "Nemo," fish can talk, laugh and tell jokes--at least on television and the silver screen. But can real fish verbally communicate? Researchers say, "Yes," in a p...

From humming fish to Puccini: Vocal communication evolved with ancient species

It's a long way from the dull hums of the amorous midshipman fish to the strains of a Puccini aria or, alas, even to the simplest Celine Dion melody. But the neural circuitry that led to the human love song not to mention birdsongs, frog thrums and mating calls of all manner of vertebrates was ...

Lionfish decimating tropical fish populations, threaten coral reefs

CORVALLIS, Ore. The invasion of predatory lionfish in the Caribbean region poses yet another major threat there to coral reef ecosystems a new study has found that within a short period after the entry of lionfish into an area, the survival of other reef fishes is slashed by about 80 percent. ...

When fish talk, scientists listen

MBL, WOODS HOLE, MAA male midshipman, a close relative of the toadfish, doesn't need good looks to attract a mate just a nice voice. After building a nest for his potential partner, he calls to nearby females by contracting his swim bladder, the air-filled sac fish use to maintain buoyancy. The s...

River damming leads to dramatic decline in native fish numbers

Damming of the Colorado River over the last century, alongside introduction of game fish species, has led to an extensive decline in numbers of native fish whilst introduced species have flourished. Scientists have found that physical changes which occur to a river when it is dammed have had an a...

Climate change causing significant shift in composition of coastal fish communities

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. June 27, 2008 A detailed analysis of data from nearly 50 years of weekly fish-trawl surveys in Narragansett Bay and adjacent Rhode Island Sound has revealed a long-term shift in species composition, which scientists attribute primarily to the effects of global warming. Ac...

Closing the gap between fish and land animals

New exquisitely preserved fossils from Latvia cast light on a key event in our own evolutionary history, when our ancestors left the water and ventured onto land. Swedish researchers Per Ahlberg and Henning Blom from Uppsala University have reconstructed parts of the animal and explain the transfo...

Exploited fish make rapid comeback in world's largest no-take marine reserve network

No-take marine reserves, in which fishing is completely banned, can lead to very rapid comebacks of the fish species most prized by commercial and recreational fisheries, reveals a new study of Australia's Great Barrier Reef published in the June 24th issue of Current Biology , a Cell Press publi...

Saltwater sleuths: Seeking clues to help determine the ages of fish and shellfish populations

Fishery biologist Sandy Sutherland looks through the lens of the microscope at tiny sections of fish earbones, known as otoliths, each showing annual bands of growth. She carefully counts the bands to determine the age of the fish, then moves on to the next sample. Known as an age reader, Sutherl...