Anatomy of Fishes• Hi all, here is a short

PowerPoint on fish anatomy that you will likely find a quick perusal of very helpful in writing the “Characteristics” sections of your species accounts for the Utah Fish Project. I am providing this as an aid, specifically meant to help you more accurately describe body shape and fin shape/placement. All of these aspects of fish anatomy are good to highlight when describing fish characteristics.

• Look through this before writing your accounts. Focus on slides 3 & 4. See if you can identify which of these traits your Utah fish species possess. If you have questions or trouble with this (or find this useful!), e-mail me.

(CAUDAL)(CRANIAL)

Other terms: proximal, distal, medial, lateral

Getting oriented: basic anatomical directionsYou should already know these terms from previous coursework in biology. This is how we use these terms to describe fishes.

FUSIFORM

ANGUILLIFORM

DEPRESSIFORM

COMPRESSIFORM

FILIFORM

TAENIFORM

SAGITTAFORM

GLOBIFORM

Terminology: Different types of fish body shapes

ROUNDED TRUNCATE EMARGINATE

FORKED LUNATE

Terminology: different types of fin shapes

HETEROCERCAL ABBREVIATE HETEROCERCAL

HOMOCERCAL ISOCERCAL

Fish tail fin bones. BIOL 3700 students, don’t worry about this.

# bones? It depends….