Scientist learn where Threatened Basking Sharks spend winters

There are a great many mysteries about fishes that we do not know. Some are slowly being discovered by scientists who doggedly pursue these questions. Often the use of novel technologies, such as satellite tagging, make learning the answers possible.

One hypothesis regarding the wintering grounds of the world's second largest fish, the basking shark was only recently tested and confirmed. The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is a huge filter feeder which grows to be up to 32 feet (9.8 m) long. According to a recent study published in Current Biology, the basking shark migrate at depths of 200 to 1000 meters deep and overwinter in the western Tropical Atlantic. Read about this story, click here.

Florida Fish Quiz

Name this fish!

-- continuous black lateral line

--- 67  to 72 pored scales on lateral line to base of caudal fin

Mystery Fish

What family? Hint: Mostly freshwater; Only found in tropical and sub-tropical habitats; mouth-brooding common.

-            ---   a single opening of the nostrils

-           ---   an interrupted lateral line.

Unknown Jar ID-Elizabeth Bedell

Crescent Shiner (Luxilus cerasinus)
-crescents on side of body
-red tipped dorsal, tail and anal fins

Red-breasted sunfish (Lepomis auritus)

-gill cover long with black tip

-anal fin has spines

-short pectoral fin

American eel (Anguilla rostrata)

- has teeth

- no pelvic fins

Mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdi)

-2 lobed connected dorsal fins

- dark brown mottling on side

Riverweed darter (Etheostoma podostemone)

-large pectoral fins

-eyes almost of top of head

-dark spots forming XY pattern

Pimelodidae (long-whiskered catfish)
- Freshwater Adapted
- Commercial Fishery
- Game/Sport Fish
- Dry/Wet Season Environments
- Nonguarders

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Pimelodidae

300 species
3 pairs of barbels
Freshwater Family
Naked - No scales or armor

Unique Species
"Firewood" Catfish (used for firewood)
Highwaterman Catfish (has gill rakers and occupies pelagic zone)
Pictus Catfish (common aquarium catfish)
Kuma Kuma (occassionally eats monkeys)

Fish in jar 5

Cyprinidae; Notropis; telescopus

Telescope Shiner
-Very small in size
-Indistinct black stripe down side up through nose of preserved specimen
-Huge eye in proportion to face
-Forked tail

Molidae Quiz

1. How many different species of Ocean sunfish are there?
A.1
B.4
C.3
D.7

2.The Mola Mola is a bony fish, thus the skeleton is mostly bone
-true
-false

3.The ocean sunfish can be characterized as a/an
A. Nongaurder
B. World Record Holder
C. Omnivore
D. All of the above

4.What is the largest Mola Mola on record?
A.2900 lb
B.3100 lb
C. 6945 lb
D. 5100 lb