Fish Ecophysiology

Among the fishes. a remarkably wide range of biological adaptations to diverse habitats has evolved. As well as living in the conventional habitats of lakes. ponds, rivers, rock pools and the open sea, fish have solved the problems of life in deserts. in the deep sea. in the cold antarctic. and in warm waters of high alkalinity or of low oxygen. Along with these adaptations, we find the most impressive specialisations of morphology, physiology and behaviour. For example we can marvel at the high-speed swimming of the marlins. sailfish and warm-blooded tunas, air-breathing in catfish and lungfish. parental care in the mouth-brooding cichlids and viviparity in many sharks and toothcarps. Moreover, fish are of considerable importance to the survival of the human species in the form of nutritious. delicious and diverse food. Rational exploi management of our global stocks of fishes must rely upon a detailed tation and and precise insight of their biology. The Chapman [.,. Hall Fish and Fisheries series aims to present timely volumes reviewing important aspects of fish biology. Most volumes will be of interest to research workers in biology. zoology. ecology and physiology but an additional aim is for the books to be accessible to a wide spectrum of non-specialist readers ranging from undergraduates and postgraduates to those with an interest in industrial and commercial aspects of IIsh and t1sheries.

Fish have evolved to colonise almost every type of aquatic habitat and today they are a hugely diverse group of over 25,000 species. This title presents a current and comprehensive overview of fish physiology to demonstrate how living fish function in their environment.

The Physiology of Tropical Fishes is the 21st volume of the well-known Fish Physiology series and consists of 12 chapters. The purpose of the book is to consolidate and integrate what is known about tropical fishes (marine and freshwater species). The twelve chapters focus on the physiological adaptations acquired during the evolutionary process to cope with warm and shallow hypoxic waters from tropical and neotropical hydrographic basins as well as with the intertidal and coral reef habitats which occur in abundance in tropical seas. The special characteristics of tropical fish fauna will be issued in order to explain the tropical fish radiation, which gave rise to such extreme fish diversity. This present volume, is a voyage through the tropical region reviewing the fish diversity of the main tropical freshwater sheds, including the major tropical rivers and lakes, the major dams, and marine environments. State-of-the-art information on tropical fish physiology Written by specialists working in the Tropics Offers a diverse depiction of the various tropical fishes and the environment where they inhabit 12 innovative chapters covering a concise view of growth rate, biological rhythms, feeding plasticity, cardio-respiratory design and function, diversity of structure, and much more

Periods of environmental hypoxia (Low Oxygen Availability) are extremely common in aquatic systems due to both natural causes such as diurnal oscillations in algal respiration, seasonal flooding, stratification, under ice cover in lakes, and isolation of densely vegetated water bodies, as well as more recent anthropogenic causes (e.g. eutrophication). In view of this, it is perhaps not surprising that among all vertebrates, fish boast the largest number of hypoxia tolerant species; hypoxia has clearly played an important role in shaping the evolution of many unique adaptive strategies. These unique adaptive strategies either allow fish to maintain function at low oxygen levels, thus extending hypoxia tolerance limits, or permit them to defend against the metabolic consequences of oxygen levels that fall below a threshold where metabolic functions cannot be maintained. The aim of this volume is two-fold. First, this book will review and synthesize the adaptive behavioural, morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular strategies used by fish to survive hypoxia exposure and place them within an environmental and ecological context. Second, through the development of a synthesis chapter this book will serve as the cornerstone for directing future research into the effects of hypoxia exposures on fish physiology and biochemistry. The only single volume available to provide an in-depth discussion of the adaptations and responses of fish to environmental hypoxia Reviews and synthesizes the adaptive behavioural, morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular strategies used by fish to survive hypoxia exposure Includes discussion of the evolutionary and ecological consequences of hypoxia exposure in fish

The need for ion and water homeostasis is common to all life. For fish, ion and water homeostasis is an especially important challenge because they live in direct contact with water and because of the large variation in the salt content of natural waters (varying by over 5 orders of magnitude). Most fish are stenohaline and are unable to move between freshwater and seawater. Remarkably, some fishes are capable of life in both freshwater and seawater. These euryhaline fishes constitute an estimated 3 to 5% of all fish species. Euryhaline fishes represent some of the most iconic and interesting of all fish species, from salmon and sturgeon that make epic migrations to intertidal mudskippers that contend with daily salinity changes. With the advent of global climate change and increasing sea levels, understanding the environmental physiology of euryhaline species is critical for environmental management and any mitigative measures. This volume will provide the first integrative review of euryhalinity in fish. There is no other book that focuses on fish that have the capacity to move between freshwater and seawater. The different challenges of salt and water balance in different habitats have led to different physiological controls and regulation, which heretofore has not been reviewed in a single volume. Collects and synthesizes the literature covering the state of knowledge of the physiology of euryhaline fish Provides the foundational information needed for researchers from a variety of fields, including fish physiology, conservation and evolutionary biology, genomics, ecology, ecotoxicology, and comparative physiology All authors are the leading researchers and emerging leaders in their fields

This book provides a concise synthesis of how toxic chemical pollutants affect physiological processes in teleost fish. This Second Edition of the well-received Water Pollution and Fish Physiology has been completely updated, and chapters have been added on immunology and acid toxicity. The emphasis, as in the first edition, is on understanding mechanisms of sublethal effects on fish and their responses to these environmental stressors. The first chapter covers the basic principles involved in understanding how fish respond, in general, to environmental alterations. Each subsequent chapter is devoted to a particular organ system or physiological function and begins with a short overview of normal physiology of that system/function. This is followed by a review of how various toxic chemicals may alter normal conditions in fish. Chapters covering environmental hypoxia, behavior, cellular enzymes, and acid toxicity are also included. The book closes with a discussion on the practical application of physiological and biochemical measurements of fish in water pollution control in research and regulatory settings.

This book provides a comprehensive collection of timely reviews of our current understanding of the fundamental principles of nitrogen metabolism and excretion in fish. Emphasis is placed on critical assessment of how new studies impact these topics, and the articles reflect the diversity of current research approaches.

Fish sensory systems have been extensively studied not only because of a wide general interest in the behavioral and sensory physiology of this group, but also because fishes are well suited as biological models for studies of sensory systems. Fish Physiology: Sensory Systems Neuroscience describes how fish are able to perceive their physical and biological surroundings, and highlights some of the exciting developments in molecular biology of fish sensory systems. Volume 25 in the Fish Physiology series offers the only updated thorough examination of fish sensory systems at the molecular, cellular and systems levels. Offers a comprehensive account of the present state of science in this rapidly expanding and developing field New physiological techniques presented to enable examining responses at the cellular and system levels Discusses fish sensory systems and how they have adapted to the physiological challenges presented by an aquatic environment