Fish Species First Observations:
Lamprey has long, skinny, small circular mouth with teeth for latching onto other fish (buccal tunnel), gray with black spots, tail, holes on sides, two eyes on sides, posterior dorsal fin, caudal fin, anterior dorsal fin, jaw, nostril, tail.
Dogfish has dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, pectoral fin, snout, caudal fin, nostril, eyes on side, fin spine, gill slits, mouth, teeth, jaw.
Ratfish has gills, first dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, pelvic fin, anal fin, mouth, no teeth, eyes on side, caudal fin, nostril, jaw, pectoral.
White perch has caudal fin, anal fin, lateral line, pelvic fins, pectoral fin, chin barbels, Gill cover, first dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, gills
Sea robin has elongated pectoral fins, large ventral fins, upper jaw/jaw, gills, two short spines, 2 eyes, 10 spines, anal fin, dorsal fins,
Carp has caudal fin, anal fin, pelvic fin, pectoral fin, dorsal fin, adipose fin
Skate has spiracles, snout, eyes on top, pectoral fin, pelvic fin, caudal fin, spine, flat
Stingray is flat, two large pectoral fins, mouth on underside, two eyes on top, gray on top, lighter color on underside, tail, gills, stinger, pelvic fin, claspers, spiracles.
The morphological characters that were most useful were those that were not ancestral traits (that all the fish had), such as teeth, the anal fin, nostrils, tails, and pelvic fin to name a few. These were most useful because they allowed us to put the fish into groups that showed their relation. One morphological character that led us to believe there was an incorrect relationship between certain fish would be the spine. We related the stingray, dogfish and the sea robin together, but not the skate, which was in reality actually a relative of the stingray. The fast evolving gene is better for resolving these taxa. I think this the case because the fast evolving tree properly categorized the lamprey as the outgroup as well as matched the dogfish in the right position.
Recent comments