Fish

Fish

A fish is any member of a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups. Most fish are ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), allowing their body temperatures to vary as ambient temperatures change, though some of the large active swimmers like white shark and tuna can hold a higher core temperature. Fish are abundant in most bodies of water. They can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams (e.g., char and gudgeon) to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans (e.g., gulpers and anglerfish). At 32,000 species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any other group of vertebrates.

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Famous quotes containing the word fish:

    Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)

    Wallowing in this bloody sty,
    I cast for fish that pleased my eye
    Robert Lowell (1917–1977)

    The progress
    Is permanent like the preordained bulk
    Of the First National Bank
    Like fish sauce, but agreeable.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)