Fishy Facts Part I

Fishy Facts Part I

Blow Fish

1. There are more than 27,000 living species of fish worldwide. That’s more than all types of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds combined. 

2. Most fish have an air bladder that inflates and deflates to keep the fish from sinking like a stone or bobbing to the surface.

3. Fish scales are laid down in rings each year (like tree rings) and can be used to age fish.

BowFin

4. Bowfin have gills, but can also use their swim bladder like a lung, coming to the surface every few minutes to gulp air. They can survive out of water for a considerable length of time. A farmer once found a live bowfin in moist soil while plowing a field that had been flooded a few weeks earlier.

5. Catfish bodies are covered with taste buds instead of scales. These extra taste buds help catfish locate food in murky waters at the lake’s bottom. 

6. Freshwater drum are the noisiest fish in Minnesota! They produce a deep, rumbling sound during spring breeding season by rubbing tendons against their swim bladders. They are also known as croakers or sheepshead. 

7. There are only two species of paddlefish in the world; one in China and one in North America. 

8. The name “walleye” refers to the large, milky pupils. The inner part of the walleye’s eye reflects light, allowing the fish to see in dark or murky water. 

9. A raindrop falling in Lake Itasca travels down the Mississippi River and arrives downstream at the Gulf of Mexico in approximately 90 days.

10. Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake. It is 20,364,800 acres in area. 

11. Minnesota is often called the land of 10,000 lakes, but the actual number is closer to 15,000.

12. Fish have been on the earth for more than 450 million years, whereas mammals have only been on earth for roughly 200 millions years.

13. There are over 27,000 identified species of fish on the earth and an estimated 

15,000 fish species that have not yet been identified.

14. There are more species of fish than all the species of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals combined.

15. Sailfish, Swordfish, and Marlin are the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching speeds of up to 70 mph, which is faster than the speed limits on most highways!

16. Many Rockfish can live hundreds of years. Rougheye Rockfish are the longest known living fish on earth and can live over 200 years! That means that a Rockfish on your dinner plate tonight could have been alive when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on their famous expedition in 1804 to explore unknown territories in the United States. 

17. Out of more than 360 species of Sharks, only a handful of species pose a potential threat to humans. Did you know? Elephants (~500) and deer (~100) kill more people every year than Sharks (~10)!

18. A female Sunfish may lay 300,000,000 eggs at a single spawning season. 

19. A male Bangaii Cardinalfish will hold both eggs and babies in his mouth until the young are ready to swim on their own. This process is known as "mouth brooding." Although it takes several weeks, the male fish will not eat until the eggs hatch.

20. Catfish have over 27,000 taste buds, whereas humans have only 9,000.