FISH 609 ENVIRONMENTAL FISH PHYSIOLOGY

Students will be introduced to environmental factors in the aquatic environments and how they affect fish growth, survival and reproduction. Students will be taken through areas such as Introduction and scope of environmental physiology of fishes; Physiological adaptations of fishes to the aquatic environment for respiration, swimming, growth and reproduction; Fish growth – factors affecting growth, growth regulation and growth rate measurements; Effect of light on production; Effects of temperature, salinity and pressure changes; Circulation and respiration in critical conditions including respiratory gases; Fish activity and fish behaviour including adaptations in communication, locomotion, and migration; Reproductive endocrinology of fish: endocrinal organs and hormones, testicular and ovarian steroids; mechanism of induced spawning; Other physiological adaptations of fish to special habitats.