Water
Gills
Paired respiratory organs of fishes and some amphibians that are analogous to lungs. They are richly supplied with blood vessels by which oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged directly with the environment.
Seawater
Water Supply
Tilapia
Water Microbiology
Fishes
A group of cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates having gills, fins, a cartilaginous or bony endoskeleton, and elongated bodies covered with scales.
Anguilla
Salinity
Degree of saltiness, which is largely the OSMOLAR CONCENTRATION of SODIUM CHLORIDE plus any other SALTS present. It is an ecological factor of considerable importance, influencing the types of organisms that live in an ENVIRONMENT.
Wetlands
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Rivers
Large natural streams of FRESH WATER formed by converging tributaries and which empty into a body of water (lake or ocean).
Salmonidae
Water Quality
A rating of a body of water based on measurable physical, chemical, and biological characteristics.
Eels
Common name for an order (Anguilliformes) of voracious, elongate, snakelike teleost fishes.
Water-Electrolyte Balance
The balance of fluid in the BODY FLUID COMPARTMENTS; total BODY WATER; BLOOD VOLUME; EXTRACELLULAR SPACE; INTRACELLULAR SPACE, maintained by processes in the body that regulate the intake and excretion of WATER and ELECTROLYTES, particularly SODIUM and POTASSIUM.
Trematode Infections
Infections caused by infestation with worms of the class Trematoda.
Trout
Various fish of the family SALMONIDAE, usually smaller than salmon. They are mostly restricted to cool clear freshwater. Some are anadromous. They are highly regarded for their handsome colors, rich well-flavored flesh, and gameness as an angling fish. The genera Salvelinus, Salmo, and ONCORHYNCHUS have been introduced virtually throughout the world.
Ecosystem
A functional system which includes the organisms of a natural community together with their environment. (McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)
Elapidae
A family of extremely venomous snakes, comprising coral snakes, cobras, mambas, kraits, and sea snakes. They are widely distributed, being found in the southern United States, South America, Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. The elapids include three subfamilies: Elapinae, Hydrophiinae, and Lauticaudinae. Like the viperids, they have venom fangs in the front part of the upper jaw. The mambas of Africa are the most dangerous of all snakes by virtue of their size, speed, and highly toxic venom. (Goin, Goin, and Zug, Introduction to Herpetology, 3d ed, p329-33)
Trematoda
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Crustacea
A large subphylum of mostly marine ARTHROPODS containing over 42,000 species. They include familiar arthropods such as lobsters (NEPHROPIDAE), crabs (BRACHYURA), shrimp (PENAEIDAE), and barnacles (THORACICA).
Body Water
Fluids composed mainly of water found within the body.
Acidic Glycosphingolipids
A subclass of GLYCOSPHINGOLIPIDS containing large polar heads made up of several sugar units. One or more of their terminal sugar units are bound to a negatively charged molecule at pH 7. Members of this class include: GANGLIOSIDES, uronoglycosphingolipids, SULFOGLYCOSPHINGOLIPIDS, phosphoglycosphingolipids, and phosphonoglycosphingolipids.
Fish Diseases
Tropical Climate
Palaemonidae
A family of CRUSTACEA, order DECAPODA, comprising the palaemonid shrimp. Genera include Macrobrachium, Palaemon, and Palaemonetes. Palaemonidae osmoregulate by means of gills.
Water Purification
Any of several processes in which undesirable impurities in water are removed or neutralized; for example, chlorination, filtration, primary treatment, ion exchange, and distillation. It includes treatment of WASTE WATER to provide potable and hygienic water in a controlled or closed environment as well as provision of public drinking water supplies.
Sodium Chloride
A ubiquitous sodium salt that is commonly used to season food.
Water Pollutants
Substances or organisms which pollute the water or bodies of water. Use for water pollutants in general or those for which there is no specific heading.
Adaptation, Physiological
The non-genetic biological changes of an organism in response to challenges in its ENVIRONMENT.
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Queensland
A state in northeastern Australia. Its capital is Brisbane. Its coast was first visited by Captain Cook in 1770 and its first settlement (penal) was located on Moreton Bay in 1824. The name Cooksland was first proposed but honor to Queen Victoria prevailed. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p996 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p441)
DNA, Ribosomal
Chlorophyta
A phylum of photosynthetic EUKARYOTA bearing double membrane-bound plastids containing chlorophyll a and b. They comprise the classical green algae, and represent over 7000 species that live in a variety of primarily aquatic habitats. Only about ten percent are marine species, most live in freshwater.
Molecular Sequence Data
Descriptions of specific amino acid, carbohydrate, or nucleotide sequences which have appeared in the published literature and/or are deposited in and maintained by databanks such as GENBANK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), or other sequence repositories.
Biodiversity
Species Specificity
The restriction of a characteristic behavior, anatomical structure or physical system, such as immune response; metabolic response, or gene or gene variant to the members of one species. It refers to that property which differentiates one species from another but it is also used for phylogenetic levels higher or lower than the species.
Conservation of Natural Resources
The protection, preservation, restoration, and rational use of all resources in the total environment.
Bacteria
One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.
Snails
Plankton
Community of tiny aquatic PLANTS and ANIMALS, and photosynthetic BACTERIA, that are either free-floating or suspended in the water, with little or no power of locomotion. They are divided into PHYTOPLANKTON and ZOOPLANKTON.
DNA, Bacterial
Deoxyribonucleic acid that makes up the genetic material of bacteria.
Genes, rRNA
Water Movements
Larva
Korea
Former kingdom, located on Korea Peninsula between Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea on east coast of Asia. In 1948, the kingdom ceased and two independent countries were formed, divided by the 38th parallel.
Sodium
Fatty Acids
Organic, monobasic acids derived from hydrocarbons by the equivalent of oxidation of a methyl group to an alcohol, aldehyde, and then acid. Fatty acids are saturated and unsaturated (FATTY ACIDS, UNSATURATED). (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)
Geologic Sediments
A mass of organic or inorganic solid fragmented material, or the solid fragment itself, that comes from the weathering of rock and is carried by, suspended in, or dropped by air, water, or ice. It refers also to a mass that is accumulated by any other natural agent and that forms in layers on the earth's surface, such as sand, gravel, silt, mud, fill, or loess. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed, p1689)
Catfishes
Elasmobranchii
Skates (Fish)
Aquaculture
Cultivation of natural faunal resources of water. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)
Microcystis
A form-genus of CYANOBACTERIA in the order Chroococcales. Many species are planktonic and possess gas vacuoles.
Bivalvia
Osmolar Concentration
Eutrophication
The enrichment of a terrestrial or aquatic ECOSYSTEM by the addition of nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, that results in a superabundant growth of plants, ALGAE, or other primary producers. It can be a natural process or result from human activity such as agriculture runoff or sewage pollution. In aquatic ecosystems, an increase in the algae population is termed an algal bloom.
Bacterial Typing Techniques
Procedures for identifying types and strains of bacteria. The most frequently employed typing systems are BACTERIOPHAGE TYPING and SEROTYPING as well as bacteriocin typing and biotyping.
Phytoplankton
Free-floating minute organisms that are photosynthetic. The term is non-taxonomic and refers to a lifestyle (energy utilization and motility), rather than a particular type of organism. Most, but not all, are unicellular algae. Important groups include DIATOMS; DINOFLAGELLATES; CYANOBACTERIA; CHLOROPHYTA; HAPTOPHYTA; CRYPTOMONADS; and silicoflagellates.
Burkholderiaceae
A family of gram negative, aerobic, non-sporeforming, rod-shaped bacteria.
Water Deprivation
The withholding of water in a structured experimental situation.
Oncorhynchus mykiss
A large stout-bodied, sometimes anadromous, TROUT found in still and flowing waters of the Pacific coast from southern California to Alaska. It has a greenish back, a whitish belly, and pink, red, or lavender stripes on the sides, with usually a sprinkling of black dots. It is highly regarded as a sport and food fish. Its former name was Salmo gairdneri. The sea-run rainbow trouts are often called steelheads. Redband trouts refer to interior populations of rainbows.
Astacoidea
A superfamily of various freshwater CRUSTACEA, in the infraorder Astacidea, comprising the crayfish. Common genera include Astacus and Procambarus. Crayfish resemble lobsters, but are usually much smaller.
Betaproteobacteria
Actinobacteria
Class of BACTERIA with diverse morphological properties. Strains of Actinobacteria show greater than 80% 16S rDNA/rRNA sequence similarity among each other and also the presence of certain signature nucleotides. (Stackebrandt E. et al, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. (1997) 47:479-491)
Acclimatization
Adaptation to a new environment or to a change in the old.
Chrysophyta
A family of microscopic freshwater EUKARYOTA, commonly known as golden algae. They share many features with the BROWN ALGAE but are planktonic rather than benthic. Though most are photosynthetic, they are not considered truly autotrophic since they can become facultatively heterotrophic in the absence of adequate light. In this state they can feed on BACTERIA or DIATOMS.
Cyanobacteria
A phylum of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria comprised of unicellular to multicellular bacteria possessing CHLOROPHYLL a and carrying out oxygenic PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Cyanobacteria are the only known organisms capable of fixing both CARBON DIOXIDE (in the presence of light) and NITROGEN. Cell morphology can include nitrogen-fixing heterocysts and/or resting cells called akinetes. Formerly called blue-green algae, cyanobacteria were traditionally treated as ALGAE.
Perciformes
Metacercariae
Temperature
The property of objects that determines the direction of heat flow when they are placed in direct thermal contact. The temperature is the energy of microscopic motions (vibrational and translational) of the particles of atoms.
Eukaryota
One of the three domains of life (the others being BACTERIA and ARCHAEA), also called Eukarya. These are organisms whose cells are enclosed in membranes and possess a nucleus. They comprise almost all multicellular and many unicellular organisms, and are traditionally divided into groups (sometimes called kingdoms) including ANIMALS; PLANTS; FUNGI; and various algae and other taxa that were previously part of the old kingdom Protista.
Environmental Monitoring
The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment.
Smegmamorpha
Group of fish under the superorder Acanthopterygii, separate from the PERCIFORMES, which includes swamp eels, mullets, sticklebacks, seahorses, spiny eels, rainbowfishes, and KILLIFISHES. The name is derived from the six taxa which comprise the group. (From http://www.nanfa.org/articles/Elassoma/elassoma.htm, 8/4/2000)
Water Softening
Amphipoda
An order of mostly marine CRUSTACEA containing more than 5500 species in over 100 families. Like ISOPODA, the other large order in the superorder Peracarida, members are shrimp-like in appearance, have sessile compound eyes, and no carapace. But unlike Isopoda, they possess thoracic gills and their bodies are laterally compressed.
Microcystins
Cyclic heptapeptides found in MICROCYSTIS and other CYANOBACTERIA. Hepatotoxic and carcinogenic effects have been noted. They are sometimes called cyanotoxins, which should not be confused with chemicals containing a cyano group (CN) which are toxic.
Daphnia
Waste Water
Contaminated water generated as a waste product of human activity.
Cladocera
A suborder of CRUSTACEA, order Diplostraca, comprising the water fleas. They are benthic filter feeders that consume PHYTOPLANKTON. The body is laterally compressed and enclosed in a bivalved carapace, from which the head extends.
Oceans and Seas
A great expanse of continuous bodies of salt water which together cover more than 70 percent of the earth's surface. Seas may be partially or entirely enclosed by land, and are smaller than the five oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic).
Fundulidae
Geography
Characiformes
An order of fresh water fish with 18 families and over 1600 species. The order includes CHARACINS, hatchetfish, piranhas, and TETRAS.
Ammonia
A colorless alkaline gas. It is formed in the body during decomposition of organic materials during a large number of metabolically important reactions. Note that the aqueous form of ammonia is referred to as AMMONIUM HYDROXIDE.
Seasons
Turtles
Amino Acid Sequence
Environment
Lymnaea
A genus of dextrally coiled freshwater snails that includes some species of importance as intermediate hosts of parasitic flukes.
Unionidae
Harmful Algal Bloom
An algal bloom where the algae produce powerful toxins that can kill fish, birds, and mammals, and ultimately cause illness in humans. The harmful bloom can also cause oxygen depletion in the water due to the death and decomposition of non-toxic algae species.
Decapoda (Crustacea)
The largest order of CRUSTACEA, comprising over 10,000 species. They are characterized by three pairs of thoracic appendages modified as maxillipeds, and five pairs of thoracic legs. The order includes the familiar shrimps, crayfish (ASTACOIDEA), true crabs (BRACHYURA), and lobsters (NEPHROPIDAE and PALINURIDAE), among others.
Filtration
Aquatic Organisms
Organisms that live in water.
Bacteroidetes
A phylum of bacteria comprised of three classes: Bacteroides, Flavobacteria, and Sphingobacteria.
Planarians
Nonparasitic free-living flatworms of the class Turbellaria. The most common genera are Dugesia, formerly Planaria, which lives in water, and Bipalium, which lives on land. Geoplana occurs in South America and California.
Hepatopancreas
Cryopreservation
Preservation of cells, tissues, organs, or embryos by freezing. In histological preparations, cryopreservation or cryofixation is used to maintain the existing form, structure, and chemical composition of all the constituent elements of the specimens.
Food Chain
The sequence of transfers of matter and energy from organism to organism in the form of FOOD. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant. PLANTS, which convert SOLAR ENERGY to food by PHOTOSYNTHESIS, are the primary food source. In a predator chain, a plant-eating animal is eaten by a larger animal. In a parasite chain, a smaller organism consumes part of a larger host and may itself be parasitized by smaller organisms. In a saprophytic chain, microorganisms live on dead organic matter.
Brachyura
An infraorder of chiefly marine, largely carnivorous CRUSTACEA, in the order DECAPODA, including the genera Cancer, Uca, and Callinectes.
Biomphalaria
A genus of planorbid freshwater snails, species of which are intermediate hosts of Schistosoma mansoni.
Protozoan Infections, Animal
Platyhelminths
A phylum of acoelomate, bilaterally symmetrical flatworms, without a definite anus. It includes three classes: Cestoda, Turbellaria, and Trematoda.
Colony Count, Microbial
Enumeration by direct count of viable, isolated bacterial, archaeal, or fungal CELLS or SPORES capable of growth on solid CULTURE MEDIA. The method is used routinely by environmental microbiologists for quantifying organisms in AIR; FOOD; and WATER; by clinicians for measuring patients' microbial load; and in antimicrobial drug testing.
Spores, Protozoan
Aquaporins
A class of porins that allow the passage of WATER and other small molecules across CELL MEMBRANES.