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Goldfish

By Melissa Peacock

Species Project-Biology 212

Carassius auratus

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Vertebrata

Order: Osteichthyes

Family: Cyprinidae

Genus: Carassius

Species: Carassius auratus

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Basic Fish Body Structure

Dorsal fin-keeps the fish from rolling; helps with sudden stops and turns

Pectoral fins-used for locomotion; side to side movement

Ventral fins-helps to stabilize the fish during swimming

Anal fins-stabilizes the fish during swimming

Caudal fin-used for locomotion; the main propelling fin

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Fin Erosion in Goldfish

Fin erosion is a conditionthat causes deformation offish fins.

The cause of fin erosion inferal goldfish wasinvestigated by Dr. AlanMearns and Marjorie J.

Sherwood.

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Fin Erosion Experiment

Every 6 weeks (between May 1990 and May 1991),goldfish were captured and examined from 5 sitesnear a pulp and paper mill in New Zealand.

Triple-hoop fyke nets were used to catch the samplegoldfish.

A total of 576 goldfish were captured.

Sample goldfish were classified in 1 of 4 categories:acute erosion, healed erosion, acute & healederosion, or no erosion.

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Experiment Results

Of the fish examined:

197 (34.2%) had acute and/or healed finerosion

Of those 197 fish, erosion occurred in:

49.1% of fish from Site 1

33.9% of fish from Site 2

29.4% of fish from Site 3

32.1% of fish from Site 4

9.2% of fish from the reference site

Fin erosion affected some fish more thanothers.

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Other Defects

Other defects noticed insample goldfish included:

Shortening of the upper/lower

jawsDistortion of the skull andpectoral girdle

Lack of fins

Deformed opercula

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Conclusion

Waste water releasefrom kraft mills doescause fin erosion in

goldfish.Pectoral and caudal finsare most often affected.

Other effects are alsoobservable.

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Food-anticipatory Activity

Fish display daily feeding patterns inand out of captivity.

It is suggested that goldfish canremember when food is available.

To test this hypothesis, an experimenton approaching behavior to food odor in

goldfish was conducted.

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Pre-Experiment

Sixty goldfish wereequally separated into fourgroups.

Group 1 was fed at 3times daily at 8:00, 12:00,and 16:00 hours.

The remaining groupswere fed only once daily at8:00, 12:00, or 16:00hours.

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Experimental Procedure

A Y-maze flow-through system wasused to test goldfish.

A single fish was placed betweenthe upper and lower gate and given30 minutes to adjust to the water.

After 30 minutes, 20 grams of fishfood was positioned at the end ofone arm channel.

20 grams of marbles werepositioned at the end of the other

arm.

The gate was raised and the fishwas observed for 5 minutes

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Experimental Results

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Fin