Kaix
05-31-2006, 09:42 AM
Anatomy of the Guppy
WATER LIFE HAS TAKEN MANY FORMS: Boneless blobs of soft protoplasm, represented by the jellyfish, fishes with backbones and skeletons and even with such highly developed appendages as wing-like fins, with which they sail over the waves. The guppy is one of the smaller of the infinitely varied species of the great fish family. It lives in tropical warm water, can stand brackish water, and as we have seen, it is a member of the smaller pike family.
The color of the guppy is due to color spots, microscopic in size, called melanophores, located in the skin. The number and arrangement of these color areas is what gives great variation among all but the most inbred specimens.
Outwardly, the fish we see takes its form from the supporting skeleton. The vertebral column runs from its head to its tail and is made up of many separate tiny perforated bones called vertebrae. The head at its anterior end contains the brain case or cranium. The upper and lower jaws are formed of bones. Ribs are attached to the vertebrae and protect many of the vital organs just as they do in ourselves. Fins project from the body at various points. There are also a hip or pelvic girdle and a shoulder girdle which help support the fins. A bony plate called an operculum, one on each side, covers the gills.
The dorsal fin of the guppy is often the fish's crowning glory, standing as it does straight up from the ridgepole formed by the backbone, or lying supinely, and often extending, especially in exotic specimens, past the end of the tail. The pair of triangular fins at the sides are called pectoral fins, the tail is the caudal fin, the fins along the underside of the body are named for their positions. Thus we find the ventral pair called pelvic fins, and the single anal fin which contains double fin rays, joined so closely as to appear single.
Fins are supported by two kinds of fin rays. One is hard and unbranched, the other is soft and branched, with segments. Swimming is accomplished almost entirely by the movement of the fish's tail which propels by making a sort of figure eight. All the other fins help in guiding, elevating and descending. Watch any guppy and you will see he guides himself chiefly in a certain direction simply by turning his body. TOP
The Digestive System
Guppies have teeth in their jaws and in the roof of their mouth as well. In the mouth there is a tongue. Behind the tongue is the pharynx and on each side of it we find gill slits which allow water to pass into the gill chamber. Leading from the pharynx to the voluminous stomach is a short gullet or esophagus. From the stomach the intestine moves food, being digested, in a curved route to the anal opening just in front of the anal fin.
The guppy has a liver which manufactures bile for digestion and a spleen which helps purify the blood. Digestion is rapid, as witnessed by the large amount of food which can be handled by a guppy in a day. TOP
Circulatory System
The heart is quite different from that of the mammal. It has two compartments instead of four, an auricle and a ventricle. Blood is forced from the ventricle, when it contracts, to the gills where it picks up oxygen and gives up carbon dioxide. This aerated blood is carried by a dorsal artery - which divides into smaller and smaller vessels - to all the body. The blood in the capillaries gives off oxygen and picks up carbon dioxide and waste which are eventually carried back to the heart via veins. Besides the veins, other tubes, called lymph vessels, help carry the blood from the capillaries to the heart where it is again pumped to the gills.
Gills which serve as lungs, because of their exposed position, are subject to diseases. Each gill consists of a bony arch which has on its front surface teeth-like structures called gill rakers and, on its rear or posterior surface, gill filaments which are always bathed by a stream of water passing from the mouth out beneath the gills.
Diagram of External Body Parts
(1) mouth, (2) nostril, (3) eye, (4) lateral line, (5) dorsal fin, (6) caudal fin or tail,
(7) gonopodium (modified anal fin (8) ventral fin, (9) pectoral fin, (10) operculum covering gills, (11) chin.
WATER LIFE HAS TAKEN MANY FORMS: Boneless blobs of soft protoplasm, represented by the jellyfish, fishes with backbones and skeletons and even with such highly developed appendages as wing-like fins, with which they sail over the waves. The guppy is one of the smaller of the infinitely varied species of the great fish family. It lives in tropical warm water, can stand brackish water, and as we have seen, it is a member of the smaller pike family.
The color of the guppy is due to color spots, microscopic in size, called melanophores, located in the skin. The number and arrangement of these color areas is what gives great variation among all but the most inbred specimens.
Outwardly, the fish we see takes its form from the supporting skeleton. The vertebral column runs from its head to its tail and is made up of many separate tiny perforated bones called vertebrae. The head at its anterior end contains the brain case or cranium. The upper and lower jaws are formed of bones. Ribs are attached to the vertebrae and protect many of the vital organs just as they do in ourselves. Fins project from the body at various points. There are also a hip or pelvic girdle and a shoulder girdle which help support the fins. A bony plate called an operculum, one on each side, covers the gills.
The dorsal fin of the guppy is often the fish's crowning glory, standing as it does straight up from the ridgepole formed by the backbone, or lying supinely, and often extending, especially in exotic specimens, past the end of the tail. The pair of triangular fins at the sides are called pectoral fins, the tail is the caudal fin, the fins along the underside of the body are named for their positions. Thus we find the ventral pair called pelvic fins, and the single anal fin which contains double fin rays, joined so closely as to appear single.
Fins are supported by two kinds of fin rays. One is hard and unbranched, the other is soft and branched, with segments. Swimming is accomplished almost entirely by the movement of the fish's tail which propels by making a sort of figure eight. All the other fins help in guiding, elevating and descending. Watch any guppy and you will see he guides himself chiefly in a certain direction simply by turning his body. TOP
The Digestive System
Guppies have teeth in their jaws and in the roof of their mouth as well. In the mouth there is a tongue. Behind the tongue is the pharynx and on each side of it we find gill slits which allow water to pass into the gill chamber. Leading from the pharynx to the voluminous stomach is a short gullet or esophagus. From the stomach the intestine moves food, being digested, in a curved route to the anal opening just in front of the anal fin.
The guppy has a liver which manufactures bile for digestion and a spleen which helps purify the blood. Digestion is rapid, as witnessed by the large amount of food which can be handled by a guppy in a day. TOP
Circulatory System
The heart is quite different from that of the mammal. It has two compartments instead of four, an auricle and a ventricle. Blood is forced from the ventricle, when it contracts, to the gills where it picks up oxygen and gives up carbon dioxide. This aerated blood is carried by a dorsal artery - which divides into smaller and smaller vessels - to all the body. The blood in the capillaries gives off oxygen and picks up carbon dioxide and waste which are eventually carried back to the heart via veins. Besides the veins, other tubes, called lymph vessels, help carry the blood from the capillaries to the heart where it is again pumped to the gills.
Gills which serve as lungs, because of their exposed position, are subject to diseases. Each gill consists of a bony arch which has on its front surface teeth-like structures called gill rakers and, on its rear or posterior surface, gill filaments which are always bathed by a stream of water passing from the mouth out beneath the gills.
Diagram of External Body Parts
(1) mouth, (2) nostril, (3) eye, (4) lateral line, (5) dorsal fin, (6) caudal fin or tail,
(7) gonopodium (modified anal fin (8) ventral fin, (9) pectoral fin, (10) operculum covering gills, (11) chin.