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Article: Fish
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Fish
At least 20,000 species of fishes live in the world's lakes, streams,
estuaries
, and oceans. Adult fish may be very small, such as the guppies that many people keep in their home aquariums, or extremely large, such as whale sharks that can weigh over 15 metric tons and reach 12 meters (about 40 feet).
The study of fishes is called ichthyology, and scientists who study fish anatomy, physiology, and taxonomy are known as ichthyologists. Fisheries scientists and fishery biologists are scientists who are interested in the population structure, reproduction, growth, and behavior of fishes that are economically important: that is, those species associated with recreational and ...