Ecomorphology is the comparative study of the influence of morphology on ecological relationships and the evolutionary impact of ecological factors on morphology in different life intervals, populations, species, communities, and evolutionary lineages. The book reviews early attempts at qualitative descriptions of ecomorphological patterns in fishes, especially those of the Russian school. More recent, quantitative studies are emphasised, including multivariate approaches to ecomorphological analysis, the selection of functionally important ecological and morphological variables to analyze, an experimental approach using performance tests to examine specific hypotheses derived from functional morphology, and the evolutionary interpretations of ecomorphological patterns. Six major areas of fish biology are focused on: feeding, sensory systems, locomotion, respiration, reproduction, and phylogenetic relationships. The 18 papers in the volume document: (1) how the morphology of bony fishes constrains ecological patterns and the use of resources; (2) whether ecological constraints can narrow the niche beyond the limits imposed by morphology (fundamental vs. realized niche); (3) how communities of fishes are organized with respect to ecomorphological patterns; and (4) the degree to which evolutionary pressures have produced convergent or divergent morphologies in fishes. A concluding paper summarizes ecomorphological research in fishes and points out taxa that are underrepresented or are especially promising for future research.

Fishes live in a world that is unfamiliar to us. Although we may make or even more advanced brief visits to this other world using a snorkel, scuba diving equipment, we can never become a part of it. Yet, an understanding of fish ecology requires an awareness of the relationships between fishes and their environment. The purpose of this book is to introduce the ecology of fishes by describing the inter-relationships between fishes and the aquatic habitats they occupy. The book can be read in complementary ways. A sequential reading, chapter by chapter, covers the main themes of ecology, including habitat use, species interactions, migration, feeding, population dynamics and reproduction in relation to the major habitats occupied by fishes. An alternative reading selects a particular sort of habitat, such as rivers, and, by using the index and skipping from chapter to chapter, builds up a picture of the ecology of fishes living in that habitat. The text is written for advanced students. Its emphasis is on descriptive rather than quantitative ecology. It is assumed that the reader will be familiar with the basic biology of fishes, acquired from a text such as The Biology of Fishes (Bone and Marshall, 1982) also published in the Tertiary Level Biology series. I would like to thank Dr J. D. Fish and two anonymous reviewers who, within a tight time-schedule, tried to improve the text. Any mistakes and shortcomings are my contribution.

The first in two decades to exclusively integrate physiological and biomechanical studies of fish locomotion, feeding and breathing, making this book both comprehensive and unique. Fish Physiology: Fish Biomechanics reviews and integrates recent developments in research on fish biomechanics, with particular emphasis on experimental results derived from the application of innovative new technologies to this area of research, such as high-speed video, sonomicrometry and digital imaging of flow fields. The collective chapters, written by leaders in the field, provide a multidisciplinary view and synthesis of the latest information on feeding mechanics, breathing mechanics, sensory systems, stability and maueverability, skeletal systems, muscle structure and performance, and hydrodynamics of steady and burst swimming, including riverine passage of migratory species. - Book presents concepts in biomechanics, a rapidly expanding area of research - First volume in over twenty years on this subject - Multi-author volume with contributions by leaders in the field - Clear explanations of basic biomechanical principles used in fish research - Well illustrated with summary figures and explanatory color diagrams

Nearly a decade ago I began planning this book with the goal of summarizing the existing body of knowledge on ecology of freshwater fishes in a way similar to that of H. B. N. Hynes' comprehensive treatise Ecology of Running Waters for streams. The time seemed appropriate, as there had been several recent volumes that synthesized much information on a range of topics important in fish ecology, from biogeographic to local scales. For example, the "Fish Atlas" (Lee et aI. , 1980) had provided range maps and basic entry to the original literature for all freshwater fishes in North America, and in 1986 Hocutt and Wiley's Zoogeography of North American Fishes provided a detailed synthesis of virtually everything known about distributional ecology of fishes on that continent. Tim Berra (1981) had summarized in convenient map form the worldwide distribution of all freshwater fish families, and Joe Nelson's 1976 and 1984 editions of Fishes of the World had appeared. To complement these "big picture" views of fish distributions, the volume on Community and Evolutionary Ecology of North American Freshwater Fishes, edited by David Heins and myself (Matthews and Heins, 1987), had provided an opportunity for more than 30 individuals or groups to summarize their work on stream fishes (albeit mostly for warmwater systems).

The book is a multi-authored book of 18 chapters comprising the state of the art work of all relevant topics on modern fish histology from 28 authors from ten countries. The topics include Introduction to Histological Techniques, Integument, Fish Skeletal Tissues, Muscular System, Structure and Function of Electric Organs, Digestive System, Glands of the Digestive Tract, Swim Bladder, Kidney, Ovaries and Eggs, Egg Envelopes, Testis Structure, Spermatogenesis, and Spermatozoa in Teleost Fishes, Cardiovascular System and Blood, Immune System of Fish, Gills: Respiration and Ionic-Osmoregulation, Sensory Organs, Morphology and Ecomorphology of the Fish Brain, and Endocrine System. Structural and functional aspects are treated and in a comparative way fish diversity at various taxonomic levels is integrated.

Coral Reef Fishes is the successor of The Ecology of Fishes on Coral Reefs. This new edition includes provocative reviews covering the major areas of reef fish ecology. Concerns about the future health of coral reefs, and recognition that reefs and their fishes are economically important components of the coastal oceans of many tropical nations, have led to enormous growth in research directed at reef fishes. This book is much more than a simple revision of the earlier volume; it is a companion that supports and extends the earlier work. The included syntheses provides readers with the current highlights in this exciting science. * An up-to-date review of key research areas in reef fish ecology, with a bibliography including hundreds of citations, most from the last decade * Authoritative and provocative chapters written to suggest future research priorities * Includes discussions of regulation of fish populations, dispersal or site fidelity of larval reef fishes, sensory and motor capabilities of reef fish larvae, and complexities of management of reef species and communities

Metamorphosis and the transition from larvae or embryos to juveniles in fishes are important in order to answer, for example, questions about: (1) life-history styles and their modifications in evolutionary perspective and within current environmental demands; (2) the development and application of fisheries recruitment models, (3) the use of ontogenetic scales for interspecific comparisons, (4) the identification of ontogenetic shifts in resource use, and (5) the discovery of evolutionary interrelationships of species or genera. This volume is dedicated to recent studies and reviews of existing knowledge on this insufficiently-addressed area of ichthyology. Most of the papers in this volume were presented in Bratislava, Slovakia, at the 1st International Workshop of the Fish Ontogeny Network of Europe (FONE) in September 1997, a meeting sponsored in part by the European Commission. This volume emphasizes an integrated approach to the study of fish ontogeny, which is a process during which one event is related to another and everything is related to everything else, encompassing physiology, morphology, behaviour and niche. Within this comprehensive perspective, the papers in this volume are grouped along four major themes: reflections on early ontogeny and metamorphosis, organism-environment relationships, ontogeny of predator-prey interactions, and behaviour and ontogeny. Among other issues, the papers consider topics such as whether one can identify when fish metamorphosis ends, whether the larva period begins with hatching or with the onset of exogenous feeding, whether fish ontogeny is `saltatory' or `gradual', and whether larvae are eliminated in some fishes with direct development. The keynote paper of this volume reviews the main topics within contemporary paradigms and the final paper concludes that the onset of the juvenile period can be identified in some species, but precision remains problematic, emphasizing the need for further research in this dynamic area of fish biology.

Damselfishes (Pomacentridae) are highly conspicuous, diurnal inhabitants of mainly reef areas, capturing the attention of many scientists. Their high diversity and the many interesting characteristics dealing with their way of life (sound production, breeding biology, sex change, farming and gregarious behavior, settlement, diet, habitat) easily explain how this group is continually kept in the limelight and is the subject of numerous studies. This book gathers the data dealing with damselfish morphology, physiology, behavior, ecology and phylogeny.It contains 14 chapters written by renowned scientists.

Encyclopedia of Ecology, Second Edition, Four Volume Set continues the acclaimed work of the previous edition published in 2008. It covers all scales of biological organization, from organisms, to populations, to communities and ecosystems. Laboratory, field, simulation modelling, and theoretical approaches are presented to show how living systems sustain structure and function in space and time. New areas of focus include micro- and macro scales, molecular and genetic ecology, and global ecology (e.g., climate change, earth transformations, ecosystem services, and the food-water-energy nexus) are included. In addition, new, international experts in ecology contribute on a variety of topics. Offers the most broad-ranging and comprehensive resource available in the field of ecology Provides foundational content and suggests further reading Incorporates the expertise of over 500 outstanding investigators in the field of ecology, including top young scientists with both research and teaching experience Includes multimedia resources, such as an Interactive Map Viewer and links to a CSDMS (Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System), an open-source platform for modelers to share and link models dealing with earth system processes