BarracudaA barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned fish known for its fearsome appearance and ferocious behaviour. The barracuda is a saltwater fish of the genus Sphyraena, the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide ranging from the eastern border of the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, on its western border the Caribbean Sea, and in tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean.
CentrarchidaeCentrarchidae, better known as sunfishes, is a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes (formerly belonging to the deprecated order Centrarchiformes), native only to North America. There are eight universally included genera within the centrarchid family: Lepomis (true sunfishes), Micropterus (black basses), Pomoxis (crappies), Enneacanthus (banded sunfishes), Centrarchus (type genus, consisting solely of the flier C. macropterus), Archoplites (Sacramento perch), Ambloplites (rock basses), and Acantharchus (mud sunfish).
ClupeiformesClupeiformes ˈkluːpiːᵻfɔːrmiːz is the order of ray-finned fish that includes the herring family, Clupeidae, and the anchovy family, Engraulidae. The group includes many of the most important forage and food fish. Clupeiformes are congealed, which means that their gas bladder has a pneumatic duct connecting it to the gut. They typically lack a lateral base, but still have the nose, arms and scales that are common to most fish, though nearly every fish have these attributes.
Striped bassThe striped bass (Morone saxatilis), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has also been widely introduced into inland recreational fisheries across the United States. Striped bass found in the Gulf of Mexico are a separate strain referred to as Gulf Coast striped bass.
MuskellungeThe muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), often shortened to muskie, musky, ski, or lunge, is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. The name "muskellunge" originates from the Ojibwe words maashkinoozhe (meaning "great fish"), mji-gnoozhe, maskinoše, or mashkinonge, meaning "bad pike", "big pike", or "ugly pike" respectively. The Algonquin word maskinunga, which is borrowed into the Canadian French words masquinongé or maskinongé.
Fisheries managementThe goal of fisheries management is to produce sustainable biological, environmental and socioeconomic benefits from renewable aquatic resources. Wild fisheries are classified as renewable when the organisms of interest (e.g., fish, shellfish, amphibians, reptiles and marine mammals) produce an annual biological surplus that with judicious management can be harvested without reducing future productivity. Fishery management employs activities that protect fishery resources so sustainable exploitation is possible, drawing on fisheries science and possibly including the precautionary principle.
Trophic cascadeTrophic cascades are powerful indirect interactions that can control entire ecosystems, occurring when a trophic level in a food web is suppressed. For example, a top-down cascade will occur if predators are effective enough in predation to reduce the abundance, or alter the behavior of their prey, thereby releasing the next lower trophic level from predation (or herbivory if the intermediate trophic level is a herbivore). The trophic cascade is an ecological concept which has stimulated new research in many areas of ecology.
Swarm behaviourSwarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction. It is a highly interdisciplinary topic. As a term, swarming is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to any other entity or animal that exhibits swarm behaviour.
FishingFishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques include hand-gathering, spearing, netting, angling, shooting and trapping, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as electrocution, blasting and poisoning.
Seine fishingSeine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; seɪn ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be deployed from the shore as a beach seine, or from a boat. Boats deploying seine nets are known as seiners. Two main types of seine net are deployed from seiners: purse seines and Danish seines. A seine differs from a gillnet, in that a seine encloses fish, where a gillnet directly snares fish.