Body
Fish have a variety of different body plans. Their body is divided into head, trunk, and tail, although the divisions are not always externally visible. The body is often fusiform, a streamlined body plan often found in fast-moving fish. They may also be filiform (eel-shaped) or vermiform (worm-shaped). Also, fish are often either compressed (laterally thin) or depressed (dorso-ventrally flat).
The caudal peduncle is the narrow part of the fish's body to which the caudal or tail fin is attached. The hypural joint is the joint between the caudal fin and the last of the vertebrae. The hypural is often fan-shaped.
Photophores are light-emitting organs which appears as luminous spots on some fishes. The light can be produced from compounds during the digestion of prey, from specialized mitochondrial cells in the organism called photocytes, or associated with symbiotic bacteria, and are used for attracting food or confusing predators.
The lateral line is a sense organ used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. In most species, it consists of a line of receptors running along each side of the fish.
The ampullae of Lorenzini allow sharks to sense electrical discharges.
The genital papilla is a small, fleshy tube behind the anus in some fishes, from which the sperm or eggs are released; the sex of a fish often can be determined by the shape of its papilla.
Read more about this topic: Fish Anatomy
Famous quotes containing the word body:
“A body would think that your heart was as black as your face. People thinks now that sweeps is black all through instead of black all over.”
—Robert N. Lee, and Rowland V. Lee. Tom Clink (Ernest Cossart)
“It is strange that they will make ado when a man’s body is buried, but not when he thus really and tragically dies, or seems to die.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There are souls that are incurable and lost to the rest of society. Deprive them of one means of folly, they will invent ten thousand others. They will create subtler, wilder methods, methods that are absolutely DESPERATE. Nature herself is fundamentally antisocial, it is only by a usurpation of powers that the organized body of society opposes the natural inclination of humanity.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)