Ichthyology is the branch of zoological sciences devoted to the systematic study of fishes, encompassing their taxonomy, phylogeny, morphology, physiology, development, behavior, ecology, and biogeography. It addresses both extant and extinct fish lineages, integrating molecular and morphological data to resolve evolutionary relationships and classification. Ichthyological research underpins understanding of aquatic ecosystem structure and function, population dynamics, and species responses to environmental change. It provides critical foundations for fisheries science, conservation biology, and environmental monitoring by characterizing species diversity, life histories, habitat requirements, and patterns of endemism, as well as identifying indicators of ecosystem health and anthropogenic impact in marine, brackish, and freshwater systems.
A team of Vermont researchers has discovered that mysterious black skin lesions afflicting catfish in Lake Memphremagog and other New England and Canadian lakes are caused by a transmissible cancer—the first identified in ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 22, 2026
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442
For decades, scientists have crawled through Bobcat Cave on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, searching its dark pools and underground passages for rare life. The cave is home to the endangered Alabama cave shrimp, making it ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 21, 2026
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For more than 150 years, fossils of Jurassic fish scattered across Europe's museums were studied and drawn by generations of scientists. However, when a paleontologist decided to shine an ultraviolet light on them, a hidden ...
New research is redefining the morphological and functional existence of anatomical "neck" regions to better include previously exempted vertebrates such as fishes and amphibians, changing the status quo of what it means ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 8, 2026
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7
Costa Rican scientists may have discovered a new species of ghost shark in Pacific waters near Cabo Blanco and Cano Island.
Plants & Animals
Jul 4, 2026
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The first published live observations of the rare goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) in its natural deep-ocean habitat were reported in a new paper by a University of Hawai'i at Mānoa-led team of oceanographers. In the past, ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 11, 2026
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288
Many animals, including humans, rely on their eyes to detect changes in their surroundings. The eyes of vertebrates, animals with a backbone or a similar supporting structure, contain a transparent structure (i.e., the lens) ...
Researchers have developed a fish-like robot that shows how some species of modern fish are able to walk on land, and could help unravel how early vertebrates evolved similar abilities hundreds of millions of years ago.
Evolution
Jun 2, 2026
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22
Most of what scientists know about face development comes from studies in bony vertebrates such as mice, chickens, and zebrafish. However, their evolutionary counterparts, cartilaginous fishes, have remained largely unexplored. ...
Evolution
May 11, 2026
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52
A new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals the surprising neurological landscape of fish brains. Harvard researchers map the internal structures of ray-finned fishes' brains in 3D detail, discovering brain ...
Evolution
May 5, 2026
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