Pisces giants and dwarfs presentation. Among the fish there are real dwarfs and monstrous giants. Sharks of the Far Eastern Seas

21.08.2010

In mountain streams deep rivers and lakes, in the oceans, off the coast and at great depths, fish live. The variety of these chordate aquatic animals is great appearance, size and lifestyle. About 20,000 species of fish are known, of which about 1,400 species live within the USSR.

Among the fish there are giants and dwarfs. The largest living fish is the whale shark, its body is up to 15 m long. Individual specimens of whale sharks can be even larger - up to 20 m long or even more. The mass of a shark 11-12 m long reaches 12-14 tons. The whale shark has a powerful body, a relatively small head with tiny eyes, and a crescent-shaped tail fin.

Whale shark for a long time known only to sailors. For the first time, zoologists met this giant in 1828, when off the coast South Africa a whale shark 4.5 m long was harpooned.

The whale shark lives in all oceans except the Arctic. It is especially common near the Philippine Islands, Southern California and near Cuba. She prefers to swim in the surface layers of water. Apparently, this is due to her way of eating. There are many stories about the whale shark, often embellished with fiction about a terrible sea monster. In fact, this timid animal is not at all dangerous to humans. Scuba divers approach her, touch her with their hands and even sit on top of her.

Shark feeds small fish, crustaceans and squid. It reproduces by laying eggs enclosed in horn capsules.

The real giants also include a giant shark with a maximum body length of up to 15 m and a mass of up to 9 tons, which only slightly smaller than the whale shark. Slowly swimming near the surface of the water, the giant shark filters about 1500 m3 of water per hour. The stomach of a giant shark is large and can hold about a ton of food, consisting mainly of planktonic crustaceans.

Big and small fish.

Fossil shark jaws.

For humans, the giant shark is safe. However, there are many cases of attacks on humans by other sharks - tiger, white, blue, sand, hammerhead sharks and some others.

Real giants are also found among stingrays. IN tropical waters there is a manta ray, often up to 6 m long, and weighing up to 4 tons. There are cases when a harpooned stingray jumped out of the water and, having fallen on a boat with fishermen, drowned it. Once Soviet whalers caught sea ​​stingray rare size: his skin was a mass of 500 kg. She was taken to the Zoological Museum of Moscow University.

Although modern sharks are usually large animals, their ancestors, who lived more than 60 million years ago, were even larger (judging by the fossil remains). It had a huge fossil shark carcharadon. It is believed that her body was more than 30 m long, and several people could fit in her mouth.

And what giant fish live in fresh waters?

In the Amazon and other South American rivers, a very large arapaima fish is found, according to some data - up to 2.4 m long and weighing up to 90 kg, and according to others - up to 4.6 m long and weighing 200 kg. However, in last years arapaima longer than 2 m - a rarity. By the time of breeding, she swims to shallow places with clean water and sandy bottom. Here, with the help of fins, arapaima digs a small hole and throws eggs there. For 5 years, it grows up to 1.5 m long. It is caught with a bait or killed with arrows from a bow. Hunting local residents behind such a giant is always very busy and requires strength and skill.

Common, or European, catfish, inhabiting the rivers of Europe and Asia (except for those flowing into the Northern Arctic Ocean), can be up to 5 m long and weigh up to 300 kg. Catfish does not avoid brackish water, feeds in the estuaries of the Dnieper, in the Azov, Aral and Caspian Seas, but spawns in fresh waters.

In the Caspian, Black and Seas of Azov there is a huge migratory beluga fish. At the age of 15 years, it can be up to 4.2 m long, and weighing up to 1 ton. There were beluga up to 9 long and weighing up to 2 tons.

Beluga is a long-lived fish, reaching a hundred years of age. She spawns in rivers. In the sea, the beluga feeds mainly on fish (gobies, herring, sprats).

Interestingly, the beluga forms hybrid forms with other sturgeons. Under the guidance of Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Nikolyukia, with the help of artificial insemination, viable hybrids of the beluga crossed with the sterlet have recently been obtained. The hybrid received the name "bester" - from the initial syllables of the names of these two fish. Such hybrids began to grow in the pond farm - Donrybkombinat. Now this fish is grown in Ukraine, Georgia, near Moscow, Belarus, the Baltic States and Central Asia.

In the class of fish, as in other classes of animals, vertebrates and invertebrates, there are species characterized by different sizes. Among the fish there are real dwarfs and monstrous giants.

in the Philippine Islands, between the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean, there is a tiny lake goby mystichthys, whose length is 1–1.5 centimeters. This goby is found in large flocks. The inhabitants of the islands catch it and eat it. The mystichthys goby is considered the smallest animal of all vertebrates in the world.

There are dwarf fish in European waters, in particular in Soviet ones. In the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas, Berg's goby is found, the length of which barely reaches three centimeters. This is the smallest vertebrate animal within the USSR. In the figure, the goby is shown almost 5 times enlarged.

In our waters, marine and fresh, there are many fish 5–10 centimeters in size. Baikal goby stone sculpin usually has a length of 8 centimeters, and only occasionally come across specimens up to 14 centimeters long. This fish most of the time swims among the stones, here it feeds, and here it breeds.

Small size and stickleback fish. It is very abundant in lakes, rivers and brackish coastal areas of the seas. The Aral nine-spined stickleback is only 5–6 centimeters long. There are so many sticklebacks in our water bodies that it could become commercial fish. In Finland and other Baltic countries, stickleback is caught and processed to produce fat for technical purposes and flour for livestock and poultry feed.

Some herrings, minnows, bleaks, verkhovka, gudgeon, plucked fish, etc. should also be attributed to small fish species. Pinchovka got its Russian name for the sharp thorns located near the eyes; With these spines, the fish is quite sensitively pricked (pinched).

In stories about animals, large individuals are of particular interest. We are surprised big sizes fish, and we try to learn more about their life.

The real giants must be recognized by some cartilaginous fish, sharks. In the northern regions Atlantic Ocean, partly in the Barents Sea, there is a gigantic shark. Its length is over 15 meters. Despite such giant size this shark is reputed to be a rather peaceful animal. It feeds mainly on small fish and other small marine organisms, but on occasion it also eats the corpses of large marine animals, even whales. When hunting for a giant shark, accidents can occur, as it has such huge force that with the blows of the tail is capable of breaking the boat.

Even larger sharks are found in tropical seas.

There are also giants among our sturgeon (cartilaginous fish). Fishermen caught beluga weighing more than one and a half tons. Belugas weighing one ton and are currently no exception.

At strong winds from the south, the water in the coastal sections of the Volga rises so much that it floods large expanses of the delta. These shallow waters are visited by fish, including beluga. With a rapid decline in water, clumsy beluga sometimes remain in drying lowlands. Once I was an eyewitness of how a happy Astrakhan, what is called with bare hands I took a live beluga almost on land, weighing more than 500 kilograms, in which there was a lot of top quality caviar.

Amur beluga - Kaluga weigh over a ton. At the sight of such giants, one is surprised not so much by the length of their body as by their weight.

Sturgeon and stellate sturgeon also belong to big fish. Largest sizes reaches the Baltic Sea sturgeon; its weight is up to 160 kilograms. There are cases when sturgeons were caught weighing up to 280 kilograms with a body length of three and a half meters.

In June 1930, a female sturgeon 265 centimeters long and weighing 128 kilograms was caught in the southern part of Lake Ladoga. A rare specimen was skinned and transferred to the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences (in Leningrad) for making a stuffed animal. The Ladoga fishermen informed us that another large sturgeon was caught in the Volkhov Bay almost at the same time - a male, somewhat smaller than the female. This fact is worth mentioning: it can be assumed that a pair of sturgeon was heading to the Volkhov River for spawning. The fishermen, who did not want to miss such prey, did not think that these fish could give more than a million fry (sturgeons). I will also talk about the Baltic sturgeon in other parts of the book, this fish is worth taking special care of.

in the rivers tropical America lives one of the largest bony fish - arapaima. Its length is up to 4 meters, weight 150-200 kilograms. They hunt it with rods and arrows. Arapaima meat is considered delicious.

Aral catfish often weighs up to 2 centners. In the Dnieper there are even more large catfish(up to 3 centners). The Caspian catfish weighs over 160 kilograms. Maximum length catfish - 5 meters.

You have probably heard about the huge pikes weighing 50-80 kilograms, hunting for waterfowl and animals caught in the water. In the stories, the pike is represented as a greedy freshwater shark. There is a lot of fantastic in this, but a lot of it is fair. Indeed, occasionally there are pikes weighing about 50 kilograms and more than 1.5 meters long.

In the Amur, among the cyprinids, which are considered to be medium-sized fish, there are specimens reaching two meters in length and 40 kilograms in weight.

The well-known cod of the North Atlantic usually has a body length of 50–70 centimeters and a weight of 4–7 kilograms. But in 1940, a cod 169 centimeters long and weighing 40 kilograms was caught in the Barents Sea.

Who would have guessed that among the herring fish, which we consider small, there are also giants! Such is the Atlantic tarpoon. Its length is up to 2 meters, weight is up to 50 kilograms. This fish is found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans sometimes enters rivers. Commercial fishermen and angler athletes also hunt for tarpoons. Who is not flattered to fish out such a "herring"! Interestingly, when this fish is dragged out of the water, it performs such a trick - it jumps with a hook to a height of 2-3 meters above the water.

Take a look at the picture. What a monster the hammerhead shark looks like! Russian name this animal is quite consistent with the shape of its body. Hammerhead fish, reaching a length of 3-4 meters, is considered one of the most terrible ocean predators, dangerous for humans. The hammerhead fish is found in tropical seas, but it is also found off the coast of Europe, keeping mainly near the bottom.

In the class of fish, as in other classes of animals, vertebrates and invertebrates, there are species characterized by different sizes. Among the fish there are real dwarfs and monstrous giants.

In the Philippine Islands, between South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, there is a tiny lake goby mystichthys, whose length is 1-1.5 centimeters. This goby is found in large flocks. The inhabitants of the islands catch it and eat it. The mystichthys goby is considered the smallest animal of all vertebrates in the world.

There are dwarf fish in European waters, in particular in Soviet ones. In the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas, Berg's goby is found, the length of which barely reaches three centimeters. This is the smallest vertebrate animal within the USSR. In the figure, the goby is shown almost 5 times enlarged.

In our waters, marine and fresh, there are many fish 5-10 centimeters in size. Baikal goby stone sculpin usually has a length of 8 centimeters, and only occasionally come across specimens up to 14 centimeters long. This fish most of the time swims among the stones, here it feeds, and here it breeds.

Small size and stickleback fish. It is very abundant in lakes, rivers and brackish coastal areas of the seas. The Aral nine-spined stickleback is only 5-6 centimeters long. There are so many sticklebacks in our water bodies that it could become a commercial fish. In Finland and other Baltic countries, stickleback is caught and processed to produce fat for technical purposes and flour for livestock and poultry feed.

Some herrings, minnows, bleaks, verkhovka, gudgeon, plucked fish, etc. should also be attributed to small fish species. Pinchovka got its Russian name for the sharp thorns located near the eyes; With these spines, the fish is quite sensitively pricked (pinched).

In stories about animals, large individuals are of particular interest. We are surprised by the large size of fish, and we try to learn more about their life.

Some cartilaginous fish, sharks should be recognized as real giants. In the northern regions of the Atlantic Ocean, and partly in the Barents Sea, there is a gigantic shark. Its length is over 15 meters. Despite such a gigantic size, this shark is reputed to be a rather peaceful animal. It feeds mainly on small fish and other small marine organisms, but on occasion it also eats the corpses of large marine animals, even whales. When hunting for a gigantic shark, accidents can occur, since it has such great strength that it can break the boat with tail blows.

Even larger sharks are found in tropical seas.

There are also giants among our sturgeon (cartilaginous fish). Fishermen caught beluga weighing more than one and a half tons. Belugas weighing one ton and are currently no exception.

With strong winds from the south, the water in the coastal sections of the Volga rises so much that it floods large expanses of the delta. These shallow waters are visited by fish, including beluga. With a rapid decline in water, clumsy beluga sometimes remain in drying lowlands. Once I was an eyewitness of how a happy Astrakhan, with his bare hands, took a live beluga weighing more than 500 kilograms almost on land, in which there was a lot of top quality caviar.

Amur beluga - Kaluga weigh over a ton. At the sight of such giants, one is surprised not so much by the length of their body as by their weight.

Sturgeon and stellate sturgeon are also large fish. The Baltic Sea sturgeon reaches the largest size; its weight is up to 160 kilograms. There are cases when sturgeons were caught weighing up to 280 kilograms with a body length of three and a half meters.

In June 1930, a female sturgeon 265 centimeters long and weighing 128 kilograms was caught in the southern part of Lake Ladoga. A rare specimen was skinned and transferred to the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences (in Leningrad) for making a stuffed animal. Fishermen from Ladoga told us that another large sturgeon was caught in the Volkhov Bay almost at the same time - a male, somewhat smaller than the female. This fact is worth mentioning: it can be assumed that a pair of sturgeon was heading to the Volkhov River for spawning. The fishermen, who did not want to miss such prey, did not think that these fish could give more than a million fry (sturgeons). I will also talk about the Baltic sturgeon in other parts of the book, this fish is worth taking special care of.

One of the largest bony fish, the arapaima, lives in the rivers of tropical America. Its length is up to 4 meters, weight is 150-200 kilograms. They hunt it with rods and arrows. Arapaima meat is considered delicious.

Aral catfish often weighs up to 2 centners. Even larger catfish (up to 3 centners) come across in the Dnieper. The Caspian catfish weighs over 160 kilograms. The largest length of the catfish is 5 meters.

You have probably heard about the huge pikes weighing 50-80 kilograms, hunting for waterfowl and animals caught in the water. In the stories, the pike is represented as a greedy freshwater shark. There is a lot of fantastic in this, but a lot of it is fair. Indeed, occasionally there are pikes weighing about 50 kilograms and more than 1.5 meters long.

In the Amur, among the cyprinids, which are considered to be medium-sized fish, there are specimens reaching two meters in length and 40 kilograms in weight.

The well-known cod of the North Atlantic usually has a body length of 50-70 centimeters and a weight of 4-7 kilograms. But in 1940, a cod 169 centimeters long and weighing 40 kilograms was caught in the Barents Sea.

Who would have guessed that among the herring fish, which we consider small, there are also giants! Such is the Atlantic tarpoon. Its length is up to 2 meters, weight is up to 50 kilograms. This fish is found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, sometimes it enters rivers. For tarpoons, both commercial fishermen and angler athletes hunt. Who is not flattered to fish out such a "herring"! Interestingly, when this fish is dragged out of the water, it performs such a trick - it jumps with a hook to a height of 2-3 meters above the water.

Take a look at the picture. What a monster the hammerhead shark looks like! The Russian name of this animal is consistent with the shape of its body. Hammerhead fish, reaching a length of 3-4 meters, is considered one of the most terrible ocean predators, dangerous for humans. The hammerhead fish is found in tropical seas, but is also found off the coast of Europe, keeping mainly near the bottom.

Dwarf fish and giant fish

In the class of fish, as in other classes of animals, vertebrates and invertebrates, there are species characterized by different sizes. Among the fish there are real dwarfs and monstrous giants.

In the Philippine Islands, between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, there is a tiny lake goby mystichthys, whose length is 1-1.5 centimeters. This goby is found in large flocks. The inhabitants of the islands catch it and eat it. The mystichthys goby is considered the smallest animal of all vertebrates in the world.

There are dwarf fish in European waters, in particular in Soviet ones. In the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas, Berg's goby is found, the length of which barely reaches three centimeters. This is the smallest vertebrate animal within the USSR. In the figure, the goby is shown almost 5 times enlarged.

In our waters, marine and fresh, there are many fish 5–10 centimeters in size. Baikal goby stone sculpin usually has a length of 8 centimeters, and only occasionally come across specimens up to 14 centimeters long. This fish most of the time swims among the stones, here it feeds, and here it breeds.

Small size and stickleback fish. It is very abundant in lakes, rivers and brackish coastal areas of the seas. The Aral nine-spined stickleback is only 5–6 centimeters long. There are so many sticklebacks in our water bodies that it could become a commercial fish. In Finland and other Baltic countries, stickleback is caught and processed to produce fat for technical purposes and flour for livestock and poultry feed.

Some herrings, minnows, bleaks, verkhovka, gudgeon, plucked fish, etc. should also be attributed to small fish species. Pinchovka got its Russian name for the sharp thorns located near the eyes; With these spines, the fish is quite sensitively pricked (pinched).

In stories about animals, large individuals are of particular interest. We are surprised by the large size of fish, and we try to learn more about their life.

Some cartilaginous fish, sharks should be recognized as real giants. In the northern regions of the Atlantic Ocean, and partly in the Barents Sea, there is a gigantic shark. Its length is over 15 meters. Despite such a gigantic size, this shark is reputed to be a rather peaceful animal. It feeds mainly on small fish and other small marine organisms, but on occasion it also eats the corpses of large marine animals, even whales. When hunting for a gigantic shark, accidents can occur, since it has such great strength that it can break the boat with tail blows.

Even larger sharks are found in tropical seas.

There are also giants among our sturgeon (cartilaginous fish). Fishermen caught beluga weighing more than one and a half tons. Belugas weighing one ton and are currently no exception.

With strong winds from the south, the water in the coastal sections of the Volga rises so much that it floods large expanses of the delta. These shallow waters are visited by fish, including beluga. With a rapid decline in water, clumsy beluga sometimes remain in drying lowlands. Once I was an eyewitness of how a happy Astrakhan with what is called with his bare hands took a live beluga, weighing more than 500 kilograms, in which there was a lot of top quality caviar, almost on land.

Amur beluga - Kaluga weigh over a ton. At the sight of such giants, one is surprised not so much by the length of their body as by their weight.

Sturgeon and stellate sturgeon are also large fish. The Baltic Sea sturgeon reaches the largest size; its weight is up to 160 kilograms. There are cases when sturgeons were caught weighing up to 280 kilograms with a body length of three and a half meters.

In June 1930, a female sturgeon 265 centimeters long and weighing 128 kilograms was caught in the southern part of Lake Ladoga. A rare specimen was skinned and transferred to the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences (in Leningrad) for making a stuffed animal. The Ladoga fishermen informed us that another large sturgeon was caught in the Volkhov Bay almost at the same time - a male, somewhat smaller than the female. This fact is worth mentioning: it can be assumed that a pair of sturgeon was heading to the Volkhov River for spawning. The fishermen, who did not want to miss such prey, did not think that these fish could give more than a million fry (sturgeons). I will also talk about the Baltic sturgeon in other parts of the book, this fish is worth taking special care of.

One of the largest bony fish, the arapaima, lives in the rivers of tropical America. Its length is up to 4 meters, weight 150-200 kilograms. They hunt it with rods and arrows. Arapaima meat is considered delicious.

Aral catfish often weighs up to 2 centners. Even larger catfish (up to 3 centners) come across in the Dnieper. The Caspian catfish weighs over 160 kilograms. The longest catfish is 5 meters.

You have probably heard about the huge pikes weighing 50-80 kilograms, hunting for waterfowl and animals caught in the water. In the stories, the pike is represented as a greedy freshwater shark. There is a lot of fantastic in this, but a lot of it is fair. Indeed, occasionally there are pikes weighing about 50 kilograms and more than 1.5 meters long.

In the Amur, among the cyprinids, which are considered to be medium-sized fish, there are specimens reaching two meters in length and 40 kilograms in weight.

The well-known cod of the North Atlantic usually has a body length of 50–70 centimeters and a weight of 4–7 kilograms. But in 1940, a cod 169 centimeters long and weighing 40 kilograms was caught in the Barents Sea.

Who would have guessed that among the herring fish, which we consider small, there are also giants! Such is the Atlantic tarpoon. Its length is up to 2 meters, weight is up to 50 kilograms. This fish is found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, sometimes it enters rivers. Commercial fishermen and angler athletes also hunt for tarpoons. Who is not flattered to fish out such a "herring"! Interestingly, when this fish is dragged out of the water, it performs such a trick - it jumps with a hook to a height of 2-3 meters above the water.

Take a look at the picture. What a monster the hammerhead shark looks like! The Russian name of this animal is consistent with the shape of its body. Hammerhead fish, reaching a length of 3-4 meters, is considered one of the most terrible ocean predators, dangerous to humans. The hammerhead fish is found in tropical seas, but is also found off the coast of Europe, keeping mainly near the bottom.