Biology 465

Diversity and Evolution of Fishes

An anglerfish (Lophiiformes) lies in wait. Note the use of the modified pectoral fins for "standing" on the substrate (itsnature.org).

"No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise" Lewis Carroll

"Whether we live by the seaside, or by the lakes and rivers, or by the prairie, it concerns us to attend to the nature of fishes, since they are not phenomena confined to certain localities, but forms and phases of the life in nature universally dispersed." (H.D. Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, 1849)

Autumn **2023** Lecture schedule (exact dates subject to change; NO lecture Sept. 5th, no lab first week):

Note: There is NO lecture Sept. 5 and Oct 10. There will be a RECORDED lecture both on Oct 3 and Nov. 16.

References by lecture section

1. Sept 9: Introduction, or why study fishes???

2. Sept. 14/16: What, if anything, is a "fish"?

.........................(i) The philosophy and practice of evolutionary classification

.........................(ii) vertebrate ancestry.

3. Sept. 16-Sept. 28: Agnathans

................................(i) Definition and inter-relationships

...............................(ii) Agnathan biology: life history and paired species

..............................(iii) Sea lamprey and the invasion of the Great Lakes

4. Oct 5: Jaws Version 1: Early Gnathostomes

5. Oct. 7: Chondrichthyan fishes:

...........................................................(i) definition and extinct lineages

...........................................................(ii) diversity of living groups

...........................................................(iii) osmoregulation and freshwater elasmobranchs

..........................................................(iv) evolution of Potamotrygonidae: how, from where, and when?

6. Oct 26 Osteichthyes:(i) Origins and characteristics

........................................................(ii) the amazing story of the discovery of living coelacanth(s)

.......................................................(iii) Dipnoi and tetrapod ancestry

7. Nov 4: The Actinopterygii: early ray-finned fishes

8. Nov. 4: Teleosts - (i) Definition and major lineages, (ii) Euteleostei, (iii) and an explosion of fish diversity

9. Nov 9/11: Fish feeding mechanisms: "Jaws Version 2.0" - key innovations in jaw structure and protrusion

10. Nov. 16/30: Drivers of diversification in fishes: (i) Ecological speciation

......................................................................................(ii) genome duplications and hybridization

11. Nov. 30: B.C. freshwater fishes and the Fish Sorter app.

12. Dec 2: Conservation of fishes: a Canadian perspective

13. Dec 7: Fish Jeopardy!

 

 

Kasidoron latifrons (21 mm standard length. Yes, that is part of the pelvic fins!)