Blunt-jawed elephantnose Gnathonemus tamandu 9"+ Difficult Also called worm-jawed mormyrid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the elephantnose is nocturnal, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but may learn to come out during the day. The elephantnose fish is a carnivore and will accept all types of meaty foods. Only one elephantnose or more than five should be kept per tank because aggression can build up if two to four are together. The probe in front of the fish is a sensitive electrical organ that it uses to find food. An elephantnose does best with a home which can be a cave or cave like structure.

Peters' elephantnose Gnathonemus petersii 9"+

Butterflyfish

Freshwater butterflyfish Pantodon buchholzi not related to saltwater butterflyfish

Catfish

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Armored catfish including Aspidoras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Brochis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Callichthys, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and Corydoras

Aspidoras fuscoguttatus

Aspidoras lakoi

Aspidoras rochai

Sixray corydoras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish false corydoras Aspidoras pauciradiatus

Britski's catfish Corydoras britskii 3.5"

Emerald catfish Corydoras splendens 4"

Hognosed brochis Corydoras multiradiatus

Cascarudo Callichthys callichthys

Adolfo's catfish Corydoras adolfoi

Banded corydoras Scleromystax barbatus 4"

Masked corydoras Corydoras metae

Barredtail corydoras Corydoras cochui

Blackstripe corydoras Corydoras bondi

Blacktop corydoras Corydoras acutus

Blue corydoras Corydoras nattereri

Bluespotted corydoras Corydoras melanistius

Bronze corydoras Corydoras aeneus The albino strain is common

Corydoras atropersonatus

Corydoras ehrhardti

Corydoras evelynae

Corydoras geoffroy

Corydoras latus

Corydoras loxozonus

Corydoras nanus

Corydoras narcissus

Corydoras ornatus

Corydoras osteocarus

Corydoras polystictus

Corydoras prionotos

Corydoras semiaquilus

Corydoras septentrionalis

Corydoras simulatus

Corydoras undulatus

Dwarf corydoras Corydoras hastatus

Elegant corydoras Corydoras elegans

False network catfish Corydoras sodalis

False spotted catfish Corydoras leucomelas

Green gold catfish Corydoras melanotaenia

Guapore corydoras Corydoras guapore

Masked corydoras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bandit corydoras Corydoras metae 2"

Mosaic corydoras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reticulated corydoras Corydoras haraldschultzi

Mosaic corydoras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reticulated corydoras Corydoras reticulatus

Panda corydoras Corydoras panda

Pastaza corydoras Corydoras pastazensis

Peppered corydoras Corydoras paleatus

Pink corydoras Corydoras axelrodi

Pygmy corydoras Corydoras pygmaeus

Sailfin corydoras Corydoras macropterus

Salt and pepper catfish Corydoras habrosus

Schwartz's catfish Corydoras schwartzi

Spotted corydoras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish longnose corydoras Corydoras ambiacus

Sterba's corydoras Corydoras Sterbai

Sychr's catfish Corydoras sychri

Tailspot corydoras Corydoras caudimaculatus

Threestripe corydoras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish leopard catfish Corydoras trilineatus

Xingu corydoras Corydoras xinguensis

Armored suckermouth catfish (plecos)

Bristlenose pleco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bushynose placo Ancistrus spp. the bristlenose genus has at least 59 identified species and many others yet to be named

Gold nugget pleco Baryancistrus spp. many species exist but not yet officially identified; the three common aquarium species are known as L-018, and Wholesale Tropical Fish L-081, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and L-177

Whiptail catfish Rineloricaria spp. there are about 20 species of whiptail catfish

Twig catfish Farlowella spp. there are at least 20 species in the twig catfish genus

Panaque Panaque spp. Several species of panaque are popular aquarium fish

Pineapple pleco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish orange cheek pleco Pseudorinelepis spp. there are 4 species in this genus

Common pleco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish suckermouth catfish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Amazon sailfin catfish Pterygoplichthys pardalis one of the several fish sold under this name; there is also an albino variation

Common pleco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish suckermouth catfish Hypostomus punctatus one of the several fish sold under this name

Common pleco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish suckermouth catfish Hypostomus plecostomus one of the several fish sold under this name

Leopard sailfin pleco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish clown sailfin pleco Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps other related fish also share this common name

Zebra pleco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish L-046 Hypancistrus zebra

Sailfin catfish Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus

Golden dwarf sucker, and Wholesale Tropical Fish golden oto Otocinclus affinis

Zebra dwarf sucker, and Wholesale Tropical Fish zebra oto Otocinclus cocama

Airbreathing catfish

Walking catfish Clarias batrachus albino form is common in the aquarium trade

Banjo catfish

Banjo catfish Bunocephalus coracoideus

Talking catfish

Striped Raphael Platydoras costatus

Spotted Raphael Agamyxis pectinifrons

Squeakers and upside-down catfish

Cuckoo squeaker Synodontis multipunctatus

Decorated squeaker Synodontis decorus

Even-Spotted squeaker Synodontis petricola

Featherfin squeaker Synodontis eupterus

Lake Malawi syno Synodontis njassae

Polka dot syno Synodontis angelicus

Common syno, and Wholesale Tropical Fish false upside down catfish Synodontis nigrita

Upside-down catfish Synodontis nigriventris 4" (9.6 cm) Community Prefers bottom feeding of Tubifex but main diet is algae.

Shark catfish

Iridescent shark Pangasius hypophthalmus Community albino form is common in the aquarium trade

Chao Phraya giant shark, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Giant pangasius Pangasius sanitwongsei dwarf "balloon" form is available in the aquarium trade

Sea catfish

Colombian shark catfish Arius semani

Australian shark catfish Arius berneyi

Berney's shark catfish Arius graeffei

Sheatfish

Glass catfish Kryptopterus bicirrhis

Two spot glass catfish Ompok bimaculatus 18" (45 cm) Looks very similar to Kryptopterus bicirrhis execpt the difference lies in the triangular dorsal fin of the Ompok in contrast to what looks like a small spine than a fin of the K. bicirrhis.

Bagrid catfishes

Crystal eyed catfish Hemibagrus wyckii 28" (71 cm) This fish is highly aggressive and must be kept alone.

Asian redtail catfish Hemibagrus wyckioides 50" (130 cm) This fish is highly aggressive and must be kept alone.

Horabagrus brachysoma 18" (45 cm)

Long-whiskered catfish

Leiarius marmoratus 39" (100 cm)

Leiarius pictus 24" (60 cm)

Redtail catfish Phractocephalus hemioliopterus 4' (1.3 m)

Spotted pimelodus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish pictus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Pictus catfish Pimelodus pictus

Tiger shovelnose catfish Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum 3.4' (104 cm) This fish is easy to confuse with P. tigrinum.

Tiger shovelnose catfish Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum 4.3' (130 cm) This fish is easy to confuse with P. fasciatum.

Characins and other characiformes

Harlequin tetra

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Tetras

Black phantom tetra Hyphessobrycon megalopterus 1.75" (4.5cm) Community Easy the black phantom tetra enjoy being in groups of 6 or more and a slightly shaded tank. Males may claim small territories and occasionally minor battles may occur. The Phantom tetra goes well with other tetras of similar size. They also prefer floating plants.

Black neon tetra Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi 1.6" (4cm) Community Intermediate this fish is similar to the neon tetra other than coloration.

Black tetra Gymnocorymbus ternetzi 2" (5cm) Community Easy a highly spirted fish that may occasionally chase its own species as well as harass slow moving fish with long fins. This fish is very hardy and can stand a variety of water qualities. Disease is not a big problem with the black tetra. The black tetra is also known as the black skirt tetra. The female black tetra is more robust and larger than the male.

Bleeding heart tetra Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma 2.5" (6.5 cm) Community Intermediate the bleeding heart tetra is distinguished by the small red spot on both sides of the fish. This fish is very prone to diseases, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and can grow larger than most tetra species. It is not recommended for beginners.

Bloodfin tetra Aphyocharax anisitsi 2" (5cm) Community

Bucktooth tetra Exodon paradoxus 2" (5cm) will eat smaller fish and harass larger fish

Buenos Aires tetra Hyphessobrycon anisitsi 3" (7.5cm) Easy

Cardinal tetra Paracheirodon axelrodi 2" (5cm) Community

Cave tetra, and Wholesale Tropical Fish blind tetra Astyanax mexicanus 4.7" (12cm) Easy cave tetra is the blind cave form of the Mexican tetra. The blind cave tetra is easy to care for and is hardy. The fish is born with eyes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but they quickly deteriorate leaving behind two scars where the eyes once were. The blind tetra needs to be in a shoal in order to show peaceful behavior, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and to prevent fin nipping. Despite their lack of eyes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the blind cave tetra can easily avoid other fish and obstacles in the tank. This tetra prefers low to moderate lighting.

Congo tetra, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Lufundi (native name) Phenacogrammus interruptus 3" (7.5cm) Community Intermediate Sufficiently peaceful for home aquariums, and Wholesale Tropical Fish though it may bite fishes smaller than its size. It is more comfortable in indirect light. Over-head lighting is preferred and under no circumstances should light be directed at the front or rear glass.

Emperor tetra Nematobrycon palmeri 2" (5cm) Easy

Garnet tetra, and Wholesale Tropical Fish pretty tetra Hemigrammus pulcher Image:Hemigrammus pulcher.jpg 2.5" (6.5cm) Community

Glowlight tetra Hemigrammus erythrozonus 1.5" (3.75cm) Community Intermediate

Green neon tetra Paracheirodon simulans 1" (2.5cm) Community Intermediate

Lemon tetra Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis 2" (5cm)

Neon tetra Paracheirodon innesi 1.6" (3.75cm) Community Intermediate the neon tetra is sensitive towards water quality and is susceptible to many freshwater diseases. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the fish is very peaceful and will not attack another member of the tank. Females are larger than the males and appear as little whales. Due to their small size, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the neon tetra should not be kept with large fish. Neon tetras are also very delicate and any harassment they may receive can result in death. This can be prevented by putting them with other small community fish or fish known to ignore their tankmates. The neon tetra feels the most comfortable when in groups.

Penguin tetra, and Wholesale Tropical Fish blackline penguinfish Thayeria boehlkei 2.5" (6.5cm)

Rummy-nose tetra Hemigrammus rhodostomus 2" (5cm) Community Intermediate

Serpae tetra Hyphessobrycon serpae 1.75" (4.5cm) Community Easy this fish may nip the fins of slow moving fish or fish smaller than it. It is best put with other large tetras or with fish of similar size or larger.

Hatchetfish

Common hatchetfish Gasteropelecus sternicla

Silver hatchetfish Gasteropelecus levis

Marbled hatchetfish Carnegiella strigata 2" (5cm) Community Intermediate Peaceful and dwells at the top of the tank in schools. Rarely breeds in captivity. This powerful leaper can easily jump out of an aquarium, and Wholesale Tropical Fish so keep only in a fully-covered tank.

Black-winged hatchetfish Carnegiella marthae 1.5" (4cm) Community Intermediate Peaceful and dwells at the top of the tank in schools. The most hardy of all the hatchetfish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but not the most plentiful. Does not breed in captivity. This powerful leaper can easily jump out of an aquarium, and Wholesale Tropical Fish so keep only in a fully-covered tank.

Pencil fishes

Headstanders

Serrasalminae (pacus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish piranhas, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and silver dollars)

Silver dollar Metynnis argenteus 6" (15cm) The name "silver dollar" may also refer to Metynnis hypsauchen, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Metynnis maculatus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or other related fishes.

Red bellied pacu Colossoma bidens 48" Difficult the red bellied pacu is a close relative of the piranhas, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but without the sharp teeth and the aggression. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish care should be taken if interacting physically with the pacu as their powerful jaws can crush human bone. The Pacu is a peaceful fish that requires at least a 200 gallon tank when fully mature. It is omnivorous and can be put with large cichlids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but avoid smaller fish. Despite their similar appearance to piranhas, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the pacu is not suited to eat meat very well, and Wholesale Tropical Fish as their natural diet of nuts suggests. Be aware that this fish can grow to four feet and the owner must be prepared to house them in a very large tank if they wish to keep the fish (200 gal minimum). Also be aware that this fish grows very fast, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and can grow as much as one foot in the first year.

Cichlids

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Lake Malawi cichlids

Sunshine peacock cichlid Aulonocara baenschi 6"

Eureka red peacock Aulonocara jacobfreigi 6"

Spilo Champsochromis spilorhyncus 16"

Blue dolphin cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish lumphead cichlid Cyrtocara moorii 10"

Afra cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish dogtooth cichild Cynotilapia afra 3.9"

Rusty cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish lavender cichild Iodotropheus sprengerae 4"

Flowerhorn 12"

Fuelleborn's cichlid Labeotropheus fuelleborni 7"

Electric yellow cichlid Labidochromis caeruleus 8"

Hongi, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Red-top kimpumpa Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" 5"

Labidochromis sp. "Mbamba Bay" Labidochromis sp. "Mbamba Bay" 5"

Auratus cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Malawi golden cichlid Melanochromis auratus 3.9"

Chipokee cichlid Melanochromis chipokae 4.7"

Blue johanni cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Maingano Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos

Melanochromis joanjohnsonae Melanochromis joanjohnsonae 3.9"

Johanni cichlid Melanochromis johannii 4.7"

Aurora Melanochromis aurora 4"

Red zebra cichlid Metriaclima estherae 4.7"

Cobalt blue cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish cobalt zebra cichlid Maylandia callainos 4.7"

Kenyi cichlid Maylandia lombardoi 5"

Fusco Nimbochromis fuscotaeniatus 10"

Livingston's cichlid Nimbochromis livingstonii 9.8"

Kaligono Nimbochromis polystigma 12"

Venustus cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish giraffe cichild Nimbochromis venustus 10"

Red empress cichlid Protomelas taeniolatus 5.9"

Bumblebee cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish hornet cichlid Pseudotropheus crabro 5.9"

Pseudotropheus acei Pseudotropheus acei 4"

Saulosi Pseudotropheus saulosi 3"

Malawi barracuda Rhampsochromis cf. macrophthalmus 9"

Tyrannochromis macrostoma 15"

Lake Tanganyika cichlids

Boulengerochromis microlepsis Boulengerochromis microlepsis 36" The largest cichlid

Frontosa cichild Cyphotilapia frontosa 16"

Frontosa cichild Cyphotilapia gibberosa 16" The frontosa have recently been broken up into three separate species. The gibberosa come from the southern part of the Lake

Frontosa cichild Cyphotilapia sp. "North" 16" This yet to be officially named species is intermediate in scale count between gibberosa and frontosa.

Julie cichlid Julidochromis dickfeldi

Masked Julie Julidochromis marlieri 6"f/4"m

Julie cichlid Julidochromis ornatus

Julie cichlid Julidochromis regani 6"f/4"m

Julie cichlid Julidochromis transcriptus 4"

Neolamprologus multifasciatus Neolamprologus multifasciatus 1½" A small shell-dwelling cichlid from Lake Tanganyika. Distinguished from the similar L. similis by the lack of striping on the face

Lamprologus ocellatus Lamprologus ocellatus 2"

Neolamprologus similis Neolamprologus similis 1½" A small shell-dwelling cichlid from Lake Tanganyika. Very similar to N. multifsciatus but similis has striping from the body continue to the head

Lobochilotes labiatus Lobochilotes labiatus 16"

Lyretail cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fairy cichlid Neolamprologus brichardi 4"

Lemon cichlid Neolamprologus leleupi 4½"

Featherfin Opthalmotilapia ventralis 6"

Petrochromis trewavasae Petrochromis trewavasae 8"

Petrochromis sp. "Zaire Texas" Petrochromis sp. "Zaire Texas" 7"

Simochromis pleurospilus Simochromis pleurospilus 4"

Tropheus duboisi Tropheus duboisi 5"

Tropheus moorii Tropheus moorii 5½"

Tropheus polli Tropheus polli 5½"

Lake Victoria cichlids

Astatotilapia aenocolor 5"

Astatotilapia elegans 4"

Zebra obliquidens Astatotilapia latifasciata 4½"

Astatotilapia nubila Astatotilapia nubila 4½"

Astatotilapia piceatus 4"

Astatotilapia schubotziellus 4"

Haplochromis obliquedens Astatotilapia sp "Red Tail" 4½"

Astatotilapia sp. "Spot Bar" 5"

Hippo Point Salmon Ptyochromis sp. "Hippo Point Salmon" 5½"

Flameback Pundamilia nyererei 4"

Xystichromis phytophagus Xystichromis phytophagus 4"

Miscellaneous African cichlids (non-Rift Lake)

African butterfly cichlid Anomalochromis thomasi

Jewel cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish two-spotted jewel cichlid Hemichromis bimaculatus other hemichromis species are sometimes sold under the same name

Lifalili jewel cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish blood-red jewel cichlid Hemichromis lifalili

Kribensis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish krib Pelvicachromis pulcher

Zebra tilapia Tilapia buttikoferi

Dwarf cichlids (apistogrammas, and Wholesale Tropical Fish rams and others)

Agassiz's dwarf cichlid Apistogramma agassizii

Yellow dwarf cichlid Apistogramma borellii

Cockatoo dwarf cichlid Apistogramma cacatuoides

Panda dwarf cichlid Apistogramma nijsseni

Three-Stripe Dwarf Cichlid Apistogramma trifasciata

Two-Stripe Dwarf Cichlid Apistogramma bitaeniata 3" 10 gallon tank for one pair Intermediate

Checkerboard Cichlid Dicrossus filamentosus

Blue ram, and Wholesale Tropical Fish German ram Mikrogeophagus ramirezi

Bolivian ram Mikrogeophagus altispinosa

Dwarf flag cichlid Laetacara curviceps

American cichlids (cichlasomas, and Wholesale Tropical Fish acaras, and Wholesale Tropical Fish angelfish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish discuses, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and others)

Midas cichild, and Wholesale Tropical Fish red devil cichlid Amphilophus citrinellus Note that Amphilophus labiatus is also called red devil cichild

Red devil cichlid Amphilophus labiatus

Firemouth cichlid Cichlasoma meeki

Jack Dempsey cichlid Cichlasoma octofasciatum

Jaguar cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish managuense cichlid Cichlasoma managuense

Mayan cichlid Cichlasoma urophthalmus

Convict cichlid Archocentrus nigrofasciatus

T-bar cichlid Archocentrus sajica

Severum Heros severus the gold variety is more common than the natural green one

Green terror Aequidens rivulatus

Blue acara Aequidens pulcher

Thread-finned acara Acarichthys heckelii

Eartheater cichlid Geophagus altifrons

Keyhole cichlid Cleithracara maronii

Angelfish Pterophyllum scalare 6" Intermediate several color varieties; this species is the common anglefish in the aquarium trade. Angelfish can grow up to six inches, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and therefore should be housed in a large aquarium. Angelfish should be kept alone, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or kept with three or more. This is because that if two are kept together, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the larger fish will pick on the smaller fish. Angelfish are not as hardy as other cichlids and should not be kept with small fish such as neon tetras. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish just the opposite is true: Angelfish should not be kept with fish that may nip and annoy it such as some large tetras.

Altum angelfish Pterophyllum altum

Spotted angelfish Pterophyllum leopoldi

Common discus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish red discus Symphysodon discus 8" Difficult various color varieties, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the discus requires high water quality and a varied diet. Do not keep with fast fish as the discus is a slow eater and will not fight for food. Despite their beauty, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the discus is one of the least hardy aquarium fishes available. This fish should only be kept by the experienced aquarium keeper.

Blue discus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish green discus Symphysodon aequifasciatus 8" Difficult fancy hybrids of this species and Symphysodon discus can also be found in trade

Chocolate cichlid Hypselecara temporalis

Oscar Astronotus ocellatus 18" has different varieties including long-fin, and Wholesale Tropical Fish albino, and Wholesale Tropical Fish golden, and Wholesale Tropical Fish etc. The oscar cichlid is fast growing and can grow to a very large size when mature, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and therefore should be housed in a large aquarium. The oscar can be messy to look after as they love to dig up plants and scoop up rocks. The oscar should be put with fish of similar size as they will eat any fish that can fit in their mouth. The oscar prefers to be with members of its own species, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but this is not a necessity for its well being. The oscar is one of the more hardy cichlids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and can be put with other large cichlids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish pacus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish large plecos, and Wholesale Tropical Fish large sharks, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and other large fish.

Uaru, and Wholesale Tropical Fish waroo Uaru amphiacanthoides

Peacock bass, and Wholesale Tropical Fish butterfly peacock bass Cichla orinocensis

Texas cichlid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Rio Grande cichlid Herichthys cyanoguttatus

Other cichlids

Orange chromide Etroplus maculatus

Cyprinids

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Barbs

Arulius barb Puntius arulius 4.7"

Bigspot barb, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Duncker's barb Puntius dunckeri 5" Peaceful when small but should not be kept with other species at adulthood.

Black ruby barb Puntius nigrofasciatus 2.5"

Checker barb Puntius oligolepis 2"

Cherry barb Puntius titteya 1.6" Community Easy

Clipper barb Barbus callipterus 3"

Clown barb Puntius everetti 6"

Gold barb Puntius semifasciolatus 3.1" Community Easy

Golden barb Puntius gelius 2"

Greenstripe barb Puntius vittatus 2"

Melon barb Puntius fasciatus 6"

Onespot barb Puntius terio 6"

Pentazona barb, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fiveband barb Puntius pentazona 2" this species may be confused with tiger barb due to similarities

Pool barb Puntius sophore 7"

Partipentazona barb Puntius partipentazona 1.5"

Red line torpedo barb Puntius denisonii 6"

Rosy barb Puntius conchonius 5" Community Easy

Shortfin barb Barbus brevipinnis 1.8"

Sixband barb Puntius pentazona 2"

Spanner barb, and Wholesale Tropical Fish t-barb Puntius lateristriga 7.8"

Spotted barb, and Wholesale Tropical Fish common barb Puntius binotatus 7.75"

Spottedsail barb, and Wholesale Tropical Fish dwarf barb Puntius phutunio 3.1"

Swamp barb Puntius chola 6"

Ticto barb Barbus ticto 4"

Tic-tac-toe barb Puntius stoliczkanus 2"

Tiger barb, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sumatra barb Puntius tetrazona 3" Community Easy There are many varieties as well as hybrids with other barbs. Good community schooling fish. They are fin nippers.

Tinfoil barb Barbonymus schwanenfeldii 14"

Cold-water cyprinids

Goldfish Carassius auratus 6"+ Community Easy variations: Black Moor, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Bubble Eye, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Butterfly Tail, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Calico, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Celestial Eye, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Comet, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Common, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Fantail, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Lionchu, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Lionhead, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Oranda, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Panda Moor, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Pearlscale, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Pompom, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Ranchu, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Ryukin, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Shubunkin, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Telescope eye, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Veiltail

Koi, and Wholesale Tropical Fish common carp Cyprinus carpio 12"+ Community Easy the fancy variations of common carp are known as koi.

White Cloud Mountain minnow Tanichthys albonubes 1.5" Pond Easy lutino variety can also be found in the aquarium trade

Common dace Leuciscus leuciscus 16"

Rosy red minnow, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fathead minnow Pimephales promelas 2"-3" Pond/Minnow Tank Easy sold as feeder fish; the gold variety known as "rosy red" is very common

Southern redbelly dace Phoxinus erythrogaster 3"-4" Pond/Minnow Tank Easy

Danios and other danionins

Bengal danio, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Sind danio Danio devario

Giant danio Devario aequipinnatus

Malabar danio Devario malabaricus Image:Danio sp.jpg

Pearl danio Danio albolineatus subspicies:blue-redstripe danio, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Kedah danio

Queen danio Devario regina

Spotted danio Danio nigrofasciatus

Turquoise danio Brachydanio kerri

Zebra danio Brachydanio rerio 2" Easy there are many variations of this fish: leopard danio,the spotted colour morph, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and GloFish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the genetically modified fluorescent fish.

Rasboras

Harlequin rasbora Trigonostigma heteromorpha Also known as Harlequin tetra

Blackline rasbora, and Wholesale Tropical Fish red-tailed rasbora Rasbora borapetensis

Red-striped rasbora Rasbora pauciperforata 3" Community Range: Sumatra; Temperature: 22 - 29 °C (72 - 85 °F)

Volcano rasbora Rasbora vulcanus

Other cyprinids

Bala shark Balantiocheilus melanopterus Community

Flying fox Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus this species may be sold as Siamese algae eater

Red-tailed black shark Epalzeorhynchos bicolor

Red-finned shark Epalzeorhynchos frenatum albino variation available

Cambodian log sucker, and Wholesale Tropical Fish false Siamese algae eater Garra cambodgiensis this species may be sold as Siamese algae eater

Chinese algae eater Gyrinocheilus aymonieri this species may be sold as Siamese algae eater

Siamese algae eater Crossocheilus siamensis many other cyprinids are sometimes mistakenly sold under this name

Labyrinth fish

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Chocolate gourami Sphaerichthys osphromenoides 2.75"

Croaking gourami Trichopsis vittata 2.5" Often confused with the pygmy gourami

Dwarf gourami Colisa lalia 2" Community Intermediate the dwarf gourami is perfect for small to mid sized aquariums as it will not grow as large as its larger relatives.

Giant gourami Osphronemus goramy 4" Occasionally, and Wholesale Tropical Fish some other gouramis are also referred to as "giant gouramis"

Paradise fish Macropodus opercularis 3" One of the few freshwater aquarium fish that survive in cold water. Most common variety is the Blue Paradise.

Pearl gourami Trichogaster leerii 4.5"

Pygmy gourami, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Sparkling gourami Trichopsis pumila 1.5" Often confused with the croaking gourami

Kissing gourami Helostoma temminckii 6" The pink variety is more popular than the natural green one. They are called Kissing Gouramis because the seem to pucker their lips outwards.

Moonlight gourami Trichogaster microlepis 6"

Snakeskin gourami Trichogaster pectoralis 8"

Three spot gourami Trichogaster trichopterus 4" Various color varieties each given a different name (blue gourami, and Wholesale Tropical Fish gold gourami, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and opaline gourami)

Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens Numerous color and fin pattern varieties. In the U.S., and Wholesale Tropical Fish the fish is often called "betta", and Wholesale Tropical Fish although this word is actually the name of the genus that includes more than 60 species other than the Siamese fighting fish. Multiple males in a tank will result in conflicts and possibly death. Females can be housed together in a tank, and Wholesale Tropical Fish though they may attack each other. Males have long flowing fins with vibrant colors, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and females have shorter fins. This fish is best put with fish that do not nip fins, and Wholesale Tropical Fish as the fins of the betta are easy to attack.

Live-bearers

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Guppies and mollies

Guppy Poecilia reticulata Community Easy Many color and tail pattern varieties exist

Endler's livebearer Poecilia wingei Community

Black molly Poecilia sphenops Community Easy

Sailfin molly Poecilia latipinna Community Easy Gold and silver varieties commonly found; also thrive in brackish water

Platies and swordtails

Southern platy Xiphophorus maculatus Community Easy Many color varieties exist

Variable platy Xiphophorus variatus Community Many color varieties exist

Green swordtail Xiphophorus hellerii Community Easy Many color varieties exist

Loaches and related cypriniforms

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Loaches

Burmese border loach Botia kubotai

Clown loach Botia macracantha

Dwarf loach Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki formerly named Botia sidthimunki

Dojo loach, and Wholesale Tropical Fish weather loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus

Horseface loach Acantopsis choirorhynchus

Kuhli loach, and Wholesale Tropical Fish coolie loach Pangio kuhlii a number of similar Pangio species are sold under the same name

Longnose loach Acantopsis octoactinotos

Skunk loach Yasuhikotakia morleti formerly named Botia morleti

Yoyo loach Botia almorhae

Zebra loach Botia striata

Other related cypriniforms

Chinese high fin banded shark Myxocyprinus asiaticus 36"+ Goldfish/Large Pond Difficult the highfin shark is a truly unique fish. At youth, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the shark has a high dorsal fin, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a plump body, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and radiant colors. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish as the fish matures, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the characteristics of the fish changes drastically. The dorsal fin becomes shorter, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the fish achieves a more cylindrical shape, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and the color fades to a dark brown. The fish is not suitable for fish tanks because of the size it can grow to. The highfin cannot be housed with tropical fish due to their lower temperature preferences. The highfin prefers to be in a school, and Wholesale Tropical Fish so more than one should be housed together. The "shark" is a peaceful fish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and will not openly attack others. Highfins are bottom dwellers and omnivorous. They will eat invertebrates and scrape algae off rocks.

Chinese hillstream loach Beaufortia kweichowensis

Neotropical electric fish

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Black ghost knifefish Apteronotus albifrons Not to be confused with the featherback "knifefish" of the Bonytongue group (see above)

Brown ghost knifefish Apteronotus leptorhynchus

Electric eel Electrophorus electricus Despite the name, and Wholesale Tropical Fish this is not an "eel" but rather a huge knifefish; illegal to possess in some areas

Pufferfish

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Figure 8 pufferfish Tetraodon biocellatus 2.4" Intermediate

Green spotted puffer Tetraodon nigroviridis 6" Difficult often sold as freshwater fish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but this species actually thrives in brackish water and may even requires saltwater when reaches adulthood

Giant freshwater pufferfish Tetraodon mbu 30" Difficult This fish also occurs in estuaries.

Dwarf pufferfish Carinotetraodon travancoricus 1.18" Difficult

Rainbowfish

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Salmon-red rainbowfish Glossolepis incisus 5-6" aka Red rainbowfish

Tami River rainbowfish Glossolepis pseudoincisus 3" aka Millennium rainbowfish

Lake Wanam rainbowfish Glossolepis wanamensis 5-6" aka Emerald rainbowfish

Threadfin rainbowfish Iriatherina werneri Difficult Threadfins have very tiny mouths and cannot compete well with other fish for food. Keep in species only tanks or with small pseudomugil (ie: gertrudae)

New Guinea rainbowfish Melanotaenia affinis 5"

Boeseman's rainbowfish Melanotaenia boesemani 4-5"

Duboulayi's rainbowfish Melanotaenia duboulayi 5-6" aka Crimson-Spotted rainbowfish

Lake Kurumoi rainbowfish Melanotaenia parva 3-3.25" aka Flame rainbowfish

Neon rainbowfish Melanotaenia praecox 2.5-3"

Eastern rainbowfish Melanotaenia splendida splendida 5-6"

Spiny eels

Common name Taxonomy Picture Size Tank Type Care Level Remarks

Fire eel Mastacembelus erythrotaenia

Spotfinned spiny eel Macrognathus siamensis

Tire track eel Mastacembelus armatus

Lesser spiny eel Macrognathus aculeatus

List of fish common names

List of freshwater aquarium plant species

List of freshwater aquarium amphibian species

List of brackish aquarium fish species

List of marine aquarium fish species

African glass catfish

African lungfish

aholehole

airbreathing catfish

airsac catfish

Alaska blackfish

albacore

alewife

alfonsino

algae eater

alligatorfish

Amago

American sole

Amur pike

anchovy

anemonefish

angelfish

angel shark

anglemouth

angler

angler catfish

anglerfish

Antarctic cod

Antarctic dragonfish

Antarctic icefish

antenna codlet

arapaima

archerfish

Arctic char

armored catfish

armored gurnard

armored searobin

armorhead

armorhead catfish

arowana

arrowtooth eel

aruana

Asian carps

Asiatic glassfish

Atka mackerel

Atlantic cod

Atlantic eel

Atlantic herring

Atlantic salmon

Atlantic saury

Atlantic silverside

Atlantic trout

Australasian salmon

Australian grayling

Australian herring

Australian lungfish

Australian prowfish

Ayu

Baikal oilfish

Bala shark

bamboo shark

banded killifish

bandfish

bango

bangu

banjo catfish

barb

barbel

barbeled dragonfish

barbeled houndshark

barbelless catfish

barfish

barracuda

barracudina

barramundi

barred danio

barreleye

basking shark

bass

basslet

batfish

bat ray

beachsalmon

beaked salmon

beaked sandfish

beardfish

beluga sturgeon

bengal danio

bent-tooth

betta

bichir

bigeye

bigeye squaretail

bighead carp

bigmouth buffalo

bigscale

bigscale fish

bigscale pomfret

billfish

bitterling

black angelfish

black bass

black dragonfish

blackchin

blackfish

blacktip reef shark

black mackerel

black pickerel

black prickleback

black scalyfin

black sea bass

blacksmelt

black swallower

black tetra

black triggerfish

bleak

blenny

blind goby

blind shark

blue catfish

blue danio

blue-redstripe danio

blue eye

bluefin tuna

bluefish

bluegill

blue gourami

blue shark

blue triggerfish

blue whiting

bluntnose knifefish

bluntnose minnow

boafish

boarfish

bobtail snipe eel

bocaccio

boga

Bombay duck

bonefish

bonito

bonnetmouth

bonytail chub

bonytongue

bottlenose

bowfin

boxfish

bramble shark

bream

bristlemouth

bristlenose catfish

broadband dogfish

brook lamprey

brook trout

brotula

brown trout

buffalofish

bullhead

bullhead shark

bull shark

bull trout

burbot

buri

burma danio

burrowing goby

butterfish

butterfly ray

butterflyfish

California flyingfish

California halibut

California smoothtongue

canary rockfish

candiru

candlefish

capelin

cardinalfish

carp

carpetshark

carpsucker

catalufa

catfish

catla

cat shark

cavefish

Celebes rainbowfish

central mudminnow

cepalin

chain pickerel

channel bass

channel catfish

char

cherry salmon

chimaera

chinook salmon

Cherubfish

chub

chubsucker

chum salmon

cichlid

cisco

climbing catfish

climbing gourami

climbing perch

clingfish

clownfish

clown loach

clown triggerfish

cobbler

cobia

cod

cod icefish

codlet

codling

coelacanth

coffinfish

coho salmon

collared carpetshark

collared dogfish

Colorado squawfish

combfish

combtail gourami

combtooth blenny

common carp

common tunny

conger eel

convict blenny

cookie-cutter shark

coolie loach

cornetfish

cowfish

cownose ray

cow shark

crappie

creek chub

crestfish

crevice kelpfish

croaker

crocodile icefish

crocodile shark

crucian carp

cuchia

cusk-eel

cuskfish

cutlassfish

cutthroat eel

cutthroat trout

dab

dace

daggertooth

daggertooth pike conger

damselfish

danio

darter

dartfish

dealfish

Death Valley pupfish

deep sea anglerfish

deep sea bonefish

deep sea eel

deep sea smelt

deepwater cardinalfish

deepwater flathead

deepwater stingray

delta smelt

demoiselle

denticle herring

desert pupfish

Devario

devil ray

discus

diver: New Zealand sand diver or Long-finned sand diver

dogfish

dogfish shark

dogteeth tetra

dojo loach

Dolly Varden trout

dorab

dorado

dory

dottyback

dragonet

dragonfish

dragon goby

driftfish

driftwood catfish

drum (fish)

duckbill

duckbilled barracudina

duckbill eel

dusky grouper

dwarf gourami

dwarf loach

eagle ray

earthworm eel

eel

eelblenny

eel cod

eel-goby

eelpout

eeltail catfish

elasmobranch

electric catfish

electric eel

electric knifefish

electric ray

electric stargazer

elephantfish

elephantnose fish

elver

emperor

emperor angelfish

emperor bream

escolar

eucla cod

eulachon

European eel

European flounder

European minnow

false brotula

false cat shark

false moray

false trevally

fangtooth

fathead sculpin

featherback

featherfin knifefish

fierasfer

filefish

finback cat shark

fingerfish

fire bar danio

firefish

flabby whalefish

flagblenny

flagfin

flagfish

flagtail

flashlight fish

flatfish

flathead

flathead catfish

flat loach

flier

flounder

flying characin

flying gurnard

flyingfish

footballfish

forehead brooder

four-eyed fish

freshwater eel

freshwater flyingfish

freshwater hatchetfish

freshwater herring

freshwater shark

frigate mackerel

frilled shark

frogfish

frogmouth catfish

fusilier

galjoen fish

Ganges shark

gar

garden eel

garibaldi

garpike

ghost flathead

ghost knifefish

ghost pipefish

ghoul

giant danio

giant gourami

giant sea bass

giant wels

gianttail

gibberfish

Gila trout

gizzard shad

glass catfish

glassfish

glass knifefish

glowlight danio

goatfish

goblin shark

goby

golden dojo

golden loach

golden trout

goldeye

goldfish

goldspotted killifish

gombessa

goosefish

gopher rockfish

gouramie

grass carp

graveldiver

gray eel-catfish

grayling

gray mullet

gray reef shark

great white shark

green swordtail

greeneye

greenling

grenadier

grideye

ground shark

grouper

grunion

grunt

grunter

grunt sculpin

gudgeon

guitarfish

gulf menhaden

gulper eel

gulper

gunnel

guppy

gurnard

haddock

hagfish

hairtail

hairyfish

hake

half-gill

halfbeak

halfmoon

halibut

halosaur

hamlet

hammerhead shark

Hammerjaw

handfish

hardhead catfish

harelip sucker

hatchetfish

hawkfish

herring

herring smelt

hillstream loach

hog sucker

horn shark

horsefish

houndshark

huchen

humuhumu-nukunuku-apua‘a

icefish

ide

ilisha

inanga

inconnu

Indian mullet

iniom

jack

jackfish

Jack Dempsey

Japanese eel

jawfish

jellynose fish

jewelfish

jewel tetra

jewfish

john dory

Kafue pike

kahawai

kaluga

kanyu

kelp perch

kelpfish

killifish

king of herring

king-of-the-salmon

kissing gourami

knifefish

knifejaw

koi

kokanee

kokopu

kuhli loach

labyrinth fish

ladyfish

lagena

lake trout

lake whitefish

lampfish

lamprey

lancetfish

lanternfish

large-eye bream

largemouth bass

largenose fish

leaffish

leatherjacket

lefteye flounder

lemon shark

lenok

leopard danio

lightfish

lighthousefish

limia

ling

ling cod

lionfish

livebearer

lizardfish

loach

loach catfish

loach goby

loach minnow

longfin

longfin dragonfish

longfin escolar

long-finned char

long-finned pike

longjaw mudsucker

longneck eel

longnose chimaera

longnose dace

longnose lancetfish

longnose sucker

longnose whiptail catfish

long-whiskered catfish

lookdown catfish

loosejaw

Lost River sucker

louvar

loweye catfish

luminous hake

lumpsucker

lungfish

lyretail

mackerel

mackerel shark

madtom

mahi-mahi

mahseer

mail-cheeked fish

mako shark

manefish

man-of-war fish

Manta Ray

marblefish

marine hatchetfish

marlin

masu salmon

medaka

medusafish

megamouth shark

menhaden

merluccid hake

Mexican blind cavefish

Mexican golden trout

midshipman

milkfish

minnow

Modoc sucker

mojarra

mola

molly

monkeyface prickleback

monkfish

mooneye

moonfish

Moorish idol

mora

moray eel

morid cod

morwong

Moses sole

mosquitofish

mosshead warbonnet

mouthbrooder

Mozambique tilapia

mrigal

mud catfish (mud cat)

mudfish

mudminnow

mudskipper

mudsucker

mullet

mummichog

murray cod

muskellunge

mustache triggerfish

mustard eel

naked-back knifefish

nase

needlefish

neon tetra

New World rivuline

New Zealand smelt

nibbler

noodlefish

North American darter

North American freshwater catfish

northern anchovy

northern clingfish

northern lampfish

northern pearleye

northern pike

northern sea robin

northern squawfish

northern Stargazer

Norwegian Atlantic salmon

nurseryfish

nurse shark

oarfish

ocean perch

ocean sunfish

oceanic flyingfish

oceanic whitetip shark

oilfish

oldwife

Old World knifefish

Old World rivuline

olive flounder

opah

opaleye

orange roughy

orangespine unicorn fish

orangestriped triggerfish

orbicular batfish

orbicular velvetfish

Oregon chub

oreo

Oriental loach

Owens pupfish

Pacific albacore

Pacific argentine

Pacific cod

Pacific hake

Pacific herring

Pacific lamprey

Pacific salmon

Pacific saury

Pacific trout

Pacific viperfish

pacus

paddlefish

paperbone

paradise fish

parasitic catfish

parrotfish

peacock flounder

peamouth

pearleye

pearlfish

pearl danio

pearl perch

pejerrey

peladillo

pelagic cod

pelican eel

pelican gulper

pencil catfish

pencilfish

pencilsmelt

perch

Peter's elephantnose fish

pickerel

pigfish

pike characid

pike conger

pike eel

pike

pikeblenny

pikehead

pikeperch

pilchard

pilot fish

pineconefish

pink salmon

píntano

pipefish

piranha

pirarucu

pirate perch

plaice

platy

platyfish

pleco

plownose chimaera

plunderfish

poacher

pollock

pomfret

pompano

pompano dolphinfish

ponyfish

poolfish

popeye catafula

porbeagle shark

porcupinefish

porgy

Port Jackson shark

powen

priapumfish

prickleback

pricklefish

prickly shark

prowfish

pufferfish

pumpkinseed

pupfish

pygmy sunfish

queen danio

queen parrotfish

queen triggerfish

quillback

quillfish

rabbitfish

raccoon butterfly fish

ragfish

rainbow trout

rainbowfish

rasbora

ratfish

rattail

ray

razorback sucker

razorfish

red snapper

redfish

redhorse sucker

redmouth whalefish

redside

redtooth triggerfish

red velvetfish

red whalefish

reedfish

reef triggerfish

regal whiptail catfish

remora

requiem shark

ribbon eel

ribbon sawtail fish

ribbonbearer

ribbonfish

rice eel

ricefish

ridgehead

riffle dace

righteye flounder

Rio Grande perch

river loach

river shark

river stingray

rivuline

roach

roanoke bass

rock bass

rock beauty

rock cod

rocket danio

rockfish

rockling

rockweed gunnel

rohu

ronquil

roosterfish

ropefish

rough pomfret

rough scad

rough sculpin

roughy

roundhead

round herring

round stingray

round whitefish

rudd

rudderfish

ruffe

Russian sturgeon

sabalo

sabertooth

saber-toothed blenny

sabertooth fish

sablefish

sailback scorpionfish

sailbearer

sailfin silverside

sailfish

salamanderfish

salmon

salmon shark

sandbar shark

sandburrower

sand dab

sanddiver

sand eel

sandfish

sand goby

sand knifefish

sand lance

sandperch

sandroller

sand stargazer

sand tiger

sand tilefish

sarcastic fringehead

sardine

sargassumfish

sauger

saury

sawfish

saw shark

sawtooth eel

scabbard fish

scaleless black dragonfish

scaly dragonfish

scat

scissor-tail rasbora

scorpionfish

sculpin

scup

scythe butterfish

sea bass

sea catfish

sea chub

seadevil

seadragon

seahorse

sea lamprey

seamoth

sea raven

searobin

sea snail

sea toad

Sevan trout

seatrout

sergeant major

shad

shark

sharksucker

sharpnose pufferfish

sheatfish

sheepshead

sheepshead minnow

shell-ear

shiner

shortnose chimaera

shortnose greeneye

shortnose sucker

shovelnose sturgeon

shrimpfish

Siamese fighting fish

sillago

silver carp

silver dollar

silver driftfish

silver hake

silverside

sind danio

sixgill ray

sixgill shark

skate

skate moss

skilfish

skipjack tuna

skipping goby

slender barracudina

slender mola

slender snipe eel

sleeper

sleeper shark

slickhead

slimehead

slimy mackerel

slimy sculpin

slipmouth

small-eye squaretail

smalltooth sawfish

smelt

smelt-whiting

smooth dogfish

smoothtongue

snailfish

snake eel

snakehead

snake mackerel

snake mudhead

snapper

snipe eel

snipefish

snoek

snook

snubnose eel

snubnose parasitic eel

soapfish

sockeye salmon

soldierfish

sole

South American darter

South American Lungfish

southern Dolly Varden

southern flounder

southern grayling

southern hake

southern sandfish

southern smelt

spadefish

spaghetti eel

Spanish mackerel

spearfish

speckled trout

spiderfish

spikefish

spinefoot

spiny-back

spiny basslet

spiny dogfish

spiny dwarf catfish

spiny eel

spinyfin

splitfin

spookfish

spotted danio

spotted dogfish

sprat

springfish

squarehead catfish

squaretail

squawfish

squeaker

squirrelfish

staghorn sculpin

stargazer

starry flounder

steelhead

stickleback

stingfish

stingray

stonecat

stonefish

stoneroller minnow

straptail

stream catfish

streamer fish

striped bass

striped burrfish

sturgeon

sucker

suckermouth armored catfish

summer flounder

Sundaland noodlefish

sunfish

surf sardine

surfperch

surgeonfish

swallower

swamp-eel

swampfish

sweeper

swordfish

swordtail

tadpole cod

tadpole fish

tailor

taimen

tang

tapetail

tarpon

telescopefish

temperate bass

temperate ocean-bass

temperate perch

tench

tenpounder

tenuis

tetra

thorny catfish

thornfish

thornyhead

threadfin

threadfin bream

threadsail

threadtail

three spot gourami

threespine stickleback

three-toothed puffer

thresher shark

tidewater goby

tiger barb

tigerperch

tiger shark

tiger shovelnose catfish

tilapia

tilefish

titan triggerfish

toadfish

tommy rough

tonguefish

tope

topminnow

torpedo

torrent catfish

torrent fish

trahira

treefish

trevally

triggerfish

triplefin blenny

triplespine

tripletail

tripod fish

trout

trout cod

trout-perch

trumpeter

trumpetfish

trunkfish

tubeblenny

tube-eye

tube-snout

tubeshoulder

tui chub

tuna

turbot

turkeyfish

unicornfish

upside-down catfish

velvet-belly shark

velvet catfish

velvetfish

vendace

vimba

viperfish

wahoo

walking catfish

wallago

walleye

walleye pollock

walu

warbonnet

warmouth

warty angler

waryfish

wasp fish

weasel shark

weatherfish

weever

weeverfish

wels catfish

whale catfish

whalefish

whale shark

whiff

whiptail gulper

whitebait

white croaker

whitefish

white marlin

white shark

whitetip reef shark

whiting

wobbegong

wolf-eel

wolffish

wolf-herring

woody sculpin

worm eel

wormfish

wrasse

wrymouth

yellow-and-black triplefin

yellowbanded perch

yellow bass

yellow bittern

yellow-edged moray

yellow-eye mullet

yellowhead jawfish

yellowfin croaker

yellowfin cutthroat trout

yellowfin grouper

yellowfin pike

yellowfin surgeonfish

yellowfin tuna

yellow jack

yellowmargin triggerfish

yellow moray

yellow perch

yellowtail

yellowtail amberjack

yellowtail barracuda

yellowtail clownfish

yellowtail horse mackerel

yellowtail kingfish

yellowtail snapper

yellow tang

yellow weaver

zander

zebra bullhead shark

zebra danio

zebrafish

zebra lionfish

zebra loach

zebra oto

zebra pleco

zebra shark

zebra tilapia

ziege

zingel

Plant

Green algae

Chlorophyta

Charophyta

Land plants (embryophytes)

Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

o Marchantiophyta—liverworts

o Anthocerotophyta—hornworts

o Bryophyta—mosses

o †Horneophytopsida

Vascular plants (tracheophytes)

o †Rhyniophyta—rhyniophytes

o †Zosterophyllophyta—zosterophylls

o Lycopodiophyta—clubmosses

o †Trimerophytophyta—trimerophytes

o Pteridophyta—ferns and horsetails

o †Progymnospermophyta

o Seed plants (spermatophytes)

+ †Pteridospermatophyta—seed ferns

+ Pinophyta—conifers

+ Cycadophyta—cycads

+ Ginkgophyta—ginkgo

+ Gnetophyta—gnetae

+ Magnoliophyta—flowering plants

† Nematophytes

Plants are a major group of life forms and include familiar organisms such as trees, and Wholesale Tropical Fish herbs, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bushes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish grasses, and Wholesale Tropical Fish vines, and Wholesale Tropical Fish ferns, and Wholesale Tropical Fish mosses, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and green algae. About 350,000 species of plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish defined as seed plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bryophytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish ferns and fern allies, and Wholesale Tropical Fish are estimated to exist currently. As of 2004, and Wholesale Tropical Fish some 287,655 species had been identified, and Wholesale Tropical Fish of which 258,650 are flowering and 15,000 bryophytes. Green plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sometimes called metaphytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish obtain most of their energy from sunlight via a process called photosynthesis.

Contents

1 Definition

o 1.1 Algae

o 1.2 Fungi

2 Diversity

o 2.1 Phylogeny

o 2.2 Embryophytes

o 2.3 Fossils

3 Life processes

o 3.1 Growth

+ 3.1.1 Factors affecting growth

o 3.2 Internal distribution

+ 3.2.1 Transpiration

+ 3.2.2 Absorption

+ 3.2.3 Conduction

4 Ecology

o 4.1 Distribution

o 4.2 Ecological relationships

5 Importance

o 5.1 Food

o 5.2 Nonfood products

o 5.3 Aesthetic uses

o 5.4 Scientific and cultural uses

o 5.5 Negative effects

6 See also

7 References

o 7.1 Further reading

8 External links

o 8.1 Botanical and vegetation databases

Definition

Aristotle divided all living things between plants (which generally do not move), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and animals (which often are mobile to catch their food). In Linnaeus' system, and Wholesale Tropical Fish these became the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Metaphyta or Plantae) and Animalia (also called Metazoa). Since then, and Wholesale Tropical Fish it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish these are still often considered plants in many contexts, and Wholesale Tropical Fish both technical and popular. Indeed, and Wholesale Tropical Fish an attempt to perfectly match "plant" with a single taxon is problematic, and Wholesale Tropical Fish because for most people the term "plant" is only vaguely related to the phylogenic concepts on which modern taxonomy and systematics are based.

When the name Plantae is applied to a specific taxon, and Wholesale Tropical Fish it is usually referring to one of three concepts. From smallest to largest in inclusiveness, and Wholesale Tropical Fish these three groupings are:

Land plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish also known as Embryophyta or Metaphyta. As the narrowest of plant categories, and Wholesale Tropical Fish this is further delineated below.

Green plants -- also known as Viridiplantae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Viridiphyta or Chlorobionta -- comprise the above Embryophytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Charophyta (i.e., and Wholesale Tropical Fish primitive stoneworts), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and Chlorophyta (i.e., and Wholesale Tropical Fish green algae such as sea lettuce). It is this clade which is mainly the subject of this article.

Primoplantae -- also known as Plantae sensu lato, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Plastida, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or Archaeplastida -- comprises the green plants above, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Rhodophyta (red algae) and Glaucophyta (simple glaucophyte algae). As the broadest plant clade, and Wholesale Tropical Fish this comprises most of the eukaryotes that eons ago acquired their chloroplasts directly by engulfing cyanobacteria.

Informally, and Wholesale Tropical Fish other creatures that carry out photosynthesis are called plants as well, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but they do not constitute a formal taxon and represent species that are not closely related to true plants. There are around about 375,000 species (types) of plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and each year more are found and described by science.

Algae

Green algae from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 1904.

Algae

The algae comprise several different groups of organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish most are not classified within the Kingdom Plantae but in the Kingdom Protista. Most conspicuous are the seaweeds, and Wholesale Tropical Fish multicellular algae that may roughly resemble terrestrial plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but are classified among the green, and Wholesale Tropical Fish red, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and brown algae. These and other algal groups also include various single-celled organisms.

The embryophytes developed from green algae (Chlorophyta); the two groups are collectively referred to as the green plants or Viridiplantae. The Kingdom Plantae is often taken to mean this monophyletic grouping. With a few exceptions among the green algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish all such forms have cell walls containing cellulose and chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and b, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and store food in the form of starch. They undergo closed mitosis without centrioles, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and typically have mitochondria with flat cristae.

The chloroplasts of green plants are surrounded by two membranes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish suggesting they originated directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. The same is true of the red algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and the two groups are generally believed to have a common origin (see Archaeplastida). In contrast, and Wholesale Tropical Fish most other algae have chloroplasts with three or four membranes. They are not close relatives of the green plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish presumably in origin acquiring chloroplasts separately from ingested or symbiotic green and red algae.

Fungi

Fungi are no longer considered to be plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish though they were previously included in the plant kingdom. Unlike embryophytes and algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fungi are not photosynthetic, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but are saprotrophs: obtaining food by breaking down and absorbing surrounding materials. Fungi are not plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but were historically treated as closely related to plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and were considered to be in the purview of botanists. It has long been recognized that fungi are evolutionarily closer to animals than to plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but they still are covered more in depth in introductory botany courses and are not necessarily touched upon in introductory zoology courses. Most fungi are formed by microscopic structures called hyphae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which may or may not be divided into cells but contain eukaryotic nuclei. Fruiting bodies, and Wholesale Tropical Fish of which mushrooms are most familiar, and Wholesale Tropical Fish are the reproductive structures of fungi. They are not related to any of the photosynthetic groups, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but are close relatives of animals. Therefore, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the fungi are in a kingdom of their own.

Diversity

About 350,000 species of plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish defined as seed plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bryophytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish ferns and fern allies, and Wholesale Tropical Fish are estimated to exist currently. As of 2004, and Wholesale Tropical Fish some 287,655 species had been identified, and Wholesale Tropical Fish of which 258,650 are flowering plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 16,000 bryophytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 11,000 ferns and 8,000 green algae.

Diversity of living plant divisions Informal group Division name Common name No. of living species

Green algae Chlorophyta green algae (chlorophytes) 3,800 1

Charophyta green algae (desmids & charophytes) 4,000 - 6,000 2

Bryophytes Marchantiophyta liverworts 6,000 - 8,000 3

Anthocerotophyta hornworts 100 - 200 4

Bryophyta mosses 10,000 5

Pteridophytes Lycopodiophyta club mosses 1,200 6

Pteridophyta ferns, and Wholesale Tropical Fish whisk ferns & horsetails 11,000 6

Seed plants Cycadophyta cycads 160 7

Ginkgophyta ginkgo 1 8

Pinophyta conifers 630 6

Gnetophyta gnetophytes 70 6

Magnoliophyta flowering plants 258,650 9

Phylogeny

A proposed phylogeny of the Plantae after Kenrick and Crane10 is as follows, and Wholesale Tropical Fish with modification to the Pteridophyta from Smith et al.11 The Prasinophyceae may be a paraphyletic basal group to all green plants.

Prasinophyceae (micromonads)

Streptobionta

Embryophytes

Stomatophytes

Polysporangiates

Tracheophytes

Eutracheophytes

Euphyllophytina

Lignophytia

Spermatophytes (seed plants)

Progymnospermophyta †

Pteridophyta

Pteridopsida (true ferns)

Marattiopsida

Equisetopsida (horsetails)

Psilotopsida (whisk ferns & adders'-tongues)

Cladoxylopsida †

Lycophytina

Lycopodiophyta

Zosterophyllophyta †

Rhyniophyta †

Aglaophyton †

Horneophytopsida †

Bryophyta (mosses)

Anthocerotophyta (hornworts)

Marchantiophyta (liverworts)

Charophyta

Chlorophyta

Trebouxiophyceae (Pleurastrophyceae)

Chlorophyceae

Ulvophyceae

Embryophytes

Embryophyte

Dicksonia antarctica, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a species of tree fern.

Most familiar are the multicellular land plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish called embryophytes. They include the vascular plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish plants with full systems of leaves, and Wholesale Tropical Fish stems, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and roots. They also include a few of their close relatives, and Wholesale Tropical Fish often called bryophytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish of which mosses and liverworts are the most common.

All of these plants have eukaryotic cells with cell walls composed of cellulose, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and most obtain their energy through photosynthesis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish using light and carbon dioxide to synthesize food. About three hundred plant species do not photosynthesize but are parasites on other species of photosynthetic plants. Plants are distinguished from green algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which represent a mode of photosynthetic life similar to the kind modern plants are believed to have evolved from, and Wholesale Tropical Fish by having specialized reproductive organs protected by non-reproductive tissues.

Bryophytes first appeared during the early Palaeozoic. They can only survive where moisture is available for significant periods, and Wholesale Tropical Fish although some species are desiccation tolerant. Most species of bryophyte remain small throughout their life-cycle. This involves an alternation between two generations: a haploid stage, and Wholesale Tropical Fish called the gametophyte, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and a diploid stage, and Wholesale Tropical Fish called the sporophyte. The sporophyte is short-lived and remains dependent on its parent gametophyte.

Vascular plants first appeared during the Silurian period, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and by the Devonian had diversified and spread into many different land environments. They have a number of adaptations that allowed them to overcome the limitations of the bryophytes. These include a cuticle resistant to desiccation, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and vascular tissues which transport water throughout the organism. In most the sporophyte acts as a separate individual, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while the gametophyte remains small.

The first primitive seed plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Pteridosperms (seed ferns) and Cordaites, and Wholesale Tropical Fish both groups now extinct, and Wholesale Tropical Fish appeared in the late Devonian and diversified through the Carboniferous, and Wholesale Tropical Fish with further evolution through the Permian and Triassic periods. In these the gametophyte stage is completely reduced, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and the sporophyte begins life inside an enclosure called a seed, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which develops while on the parent plant, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and with fertilisation by means of pollen grains. Whereas other vascular plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as ferns, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reproduce by means of spores and so need moisture to develop, and Wholesale Tropical Fish some seed plants can survive and reproduce in extremely arid conditions.

Early seed plants are referred to as gymnosperms (naked seeds), and Wholesale Tropical Fish as the seed embryo is not enclosed in a protective structure at pollination, and Wholesale Tropical Fish with the pollen landing directly on the embryo. Four surviving groups remain widespread now, and Wholesale Tropical Fish particularly the conifers, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which are dominant trees in several biomes. The angiosperms, and Wholesale Tropical Fish comprising the flowering plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish were the last major group of plants to appear, and Wholesale Tropical Fish emerging from within the gymnosperms during the Jurassic and diversifying rapidly during the Cretaceous. These differ in that the seed embryo (angiosperm) is enclosed, and Wholesale Tropical Fish so the pollen has to grow a tube to penetrate the protective seed coat; they are the predominant group of flora in most biomes today.

Fossils

Main articles: Paleobotany, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Plant fossil, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and Evolutionary history of plants

A petrified log in Petrified Forest National Park.

Plant fossils include roots, and Wholesale Tropical Fish wood, and Wholesale Tropical Fish leaves, and Wholesale Tropical Fish seeds, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fruit, and Wholesale Tropical Fish pollen, and Wholesale Tropical Fish spores, and Wholesale Tropical Fish phytoliths, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and amber (the fossilized resin produced by some plants). Fossil land plants are recorded in terrestrial, and Wholesale Tropical Fish lacustrine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fluvial and nearshore marine sediments. Pollen, and Wholesale Tropical Fish spores and algae (dinoflagellates and acritarchs) are used for dating sedimentary rock sequences. The remains of fossil plants are not as common as fossil animals, and Wholesale Tropical Fish although plant fossils are locally abundant in many regions worldwide.

The earliest fossils clearly assignable to Kingdom Plantae are fossil green algae from the Cambrian. These fossils resemble calcified multicellular members of the Dasycladales. Earlier Precambrian fossils are known which resemble single-cell green algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but definitive identity with that group of algae is uncertain.

The oldest known trace fossils of embryophytes date from the Ordovician, and Wholesale Tropical Fish though such fossils are fragmentary. By the Silurian, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fossils of whole plants are preserved, and Wholesale Tropical Fish including the lycophyte Baragwanathia longifolia. From the Devonian, and Wholesale Tropical Fish detailed fossils of rhyniophytes have been found. Early fossils of these ancient plants show the individual cells within the plant tissue. The Devonian period also saw the evolution of what many believe to be the first modern tree, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Archaeopteris. This fern-like tree combined a woody trunk with the fronds of a fern, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but produced no seeds.

The Coal Measures are a major source of Palaeozoic plant fossils, and Wholesale Tropical Fish with many groups of plants in existence at this time. The spoil heaps of coal mines are the best places to collect; coal itself is the remains of fossilised plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish though structural detail of the plant fossils is rarely visible in coal. In the Fossil Forest at Victoria Park in Glasgow, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Scotland, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the stumps of Lepidodendron trees are found in their original growth positions.

The fossilized remains of conifer and angiosperm roots, and Wholesale Tropical Fish stems and branches may be locally abundant in lake and inshore sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic and Caenozoic eras. Sequoia and its allies, and Wholesale Tropical Fish magnolia, and Wholesale Tropical Fish oak, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and palms are often found.

Petrified wood is common in some parts of the world, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and is most frequently found in arid or desert areas where it is more readily exposed by erosion. Petrified wood is often heavily silicified (the organic material replaced by silicon dioxide), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and the impregnated tissue is often preserved in fine detail. Such specimens may be cut and polished using lapidary equipment. Fossil forests of petrified wood have been found in all continents.

Fossils of seed ferns such as Glossopteris are widely distributed throughout several continents of the southern hemisphere, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a fact that gave support to Alfred Wegener's early ideas regarding Continental drift theory.

Life processes

Growth

Most of the solid material in a plant is taken from the atmosphere. Through a process known as photosynthesis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into simple sugars. These sugars are then used as building blocks and form the main structural component of the plant. Plants rely on soil primarily for support and water (in quantitative terms), and Wholesale Tropical Fish but also obtain nitrogen, and Wholesale Tropical Fish phosphorus and other crucial elemental nutrients. For the majority of plants to grow successfully they also require oxygen in the atmosphere (for respiration in the dark) and oxygen around their roots. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a few specialized vascular plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as Mangroves, and Wholesale Tropical Fish can grow with their roots in anoxic conditions.

The leaf is the primary site of photosynthesis in plants.

Factors affecting growth

The genotype of a plant affects its growth, and Wholesale Tropical Fish for example selected varieties of wheat grow rapidly, and Wholesale Tropical Fish maturing within 110 days, and Wholesale Tropical Fish whereas others, and Wholesale Tropical Fish in the same environmental conditions, and Wholesale Tropical Fish grow more slowly and mature within 155 days.12

Growth is also determined by environmental factors, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as temperature, and Wholesale Tropical Fish available water, and Wholesale Tropical Fish available light, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and available nutrients in the soil. Any change in the availability of these external conditions will be reflected in the plants growth.

Biotic factors (living organisms) also affect plant growth.

Plants compete with other plants for space, and Wholesale Tropical Fish water, and Wholesale Tropical Fish light and nutrients. Plants can be so crowded that no single individual makes normal growth.12

Many plants rely on birds and insects to affect pollination.

Grazing animals may completely affect vegetation.

Soil fertility is influenced by the activity of bacteria and fungi.

Bacteria, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fungi, and Wholesale Tropical Fish viruses, and Wholesale Tropical Fish nematodes and insects can parasitise plants.

Some plant roots require an association with fungi to maintain normal activity (mycorrhizal aasociation).12

Simple plants like algae may have short life spans as individuals, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but their populations are commonly seasonal. Other plants may be organized according to their seasonal growth pattern:

Annual: live and reproduce within one growing season.

Biennial: live for two growing seasons; usually reproduce in second year.

Perennial: live for many growing seasons; continue to reproduce once mature.

Among the vascular plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish perennials include both evergreens that keep their leaves the entire year, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and deciduous plants which lose their leaves for some part. In temperate and boreal climates, and Wholesale Tropical Fish they generally lose their leaves during the winter; many tropical plants lose their leaves during the dry season.

The growth rate of plants is extremely variable. Some mosses grow less than 0.001 mm/h, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while most trees grow 0.025-0.250 mm/h. Some climbing species, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as kudzu, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which do not need to produce thick supportive tissue, and Wholesale Tropical Fish may grow up to 12.5 mm/h.

Plants protect themselves from frost and dehydration stress with antifreeze proteins, and Wholesale Tropical Fish heat-shock proteins and sugars (sucrose is common). LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) protein expression is induced by stresses and protects other proteins from aggregation as a result of desiccation and freezing.13

Internal distribution

Photographs showing xylem elements in the shoot of a fig tree (Ficus alba): crushed in hydrochloric acid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish between slides and cover slips.

Nutrients and water from the soil and the organic compound produces in leaves are distributed to specific areas in the plant through the xylem and phloem. The xylem draws water and nutrients up from the roots to the upper sections of the plant's body, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and the phloem conducts other materials, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as the glucose produced during photosynthesis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which gives the plant energy to keep growing and seeding.

The xylem consists of tracheids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which are dead hard-walled cells arranged to form tiny tubes to function in water transport. A tracheid cell wall usually contains the polymer lignin. The phloem however consists of living cells called sieve-tube members. Between the sieve-tube members are sieve plates, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which have pores to allow molecules to pass through. Sieve-tube members lack such organs as nuclei or ribosomes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but cells next to them, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the companion cells, and Wholesale Tropical Fish function to keep the sieve-tube members alive.

Movement of nutrients, and Wholesale Tropical Fish water, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sugars and waste is effected by transpiration, and Wholesale Tropical Fish conduction and absorption.

Transpiration

The most abundant compound in most plants is water, and Wholesale Tropical Fish serving a large role in the various processes taking place. Transpiration is the main process a plant can call upon to move compounds within its tissues. The basic minerals and nutrients a plant is composed of remain, and Wholesale Tropical Fish generally, and Wholesale Tropical Fish within the plant. Water, and Wholesale Tropical Fish however, and Wholesale Tropical Fish is constantly being lost from the plant through its metabolic and photosynthetic processes to the atmosphere.

Water is transpired from the plants leaves via stomata, and Wholesale Tropical Fish carried there via leaf veins and vascular bundles within the plants cambium layer. The movement of water out of the leaf stomata creates, and Wholesale Tropical Fish when the leaves are considered collectively, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a transpiration pull. The pull is created through water surface tension within the plant cells. The draw of water upwards is assisted by the movement of water into the roots via osmosis. This process also assists the plant in absorbing nutrients from the soil as soluble salts, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a process known as absorption.

Absorption

Xylem cells move water and nutrient solutions upwards towards other plant organs from the roots and fine root hairs. Living roots cells actively absorb water in the absence of transpiration pull via osmosis creating root pressure. There are times when plants do not have transpiration pull, and Wholesale Tropical Fish usually due to lack of light or other environmental elements. Water in the plant tissues may move to the roots to assist in passive absorption.

Conduction

Xylem and phloem tissues are involved in the conduction processes within plants. The movement of foods throughout the plant takes place mainly in the phloem. Plant conduction (food movement) is from an area of high food content, and Wholesale Tropical Fish place of manufacture (photosynthesis) or storage, and Wholesale Tropical Fish to a place of food utilisation, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or from a point of manufacture to storage tissues. Mineral salts are translocated in the xylem tissues.12

Ecology

The photosynthesis conducted by land plants and algae is the ultimate source of energy and organic material in nearly all ecosystems. Photosynthesis radically changed the composition of the early Earth's atmosphere, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which as a result is now 21% oxygen. Animals and most other organisms are aerobic, and Wholesale Tropical Fish relying on oxygen; those that do not are confined to relatively rare anaerobic environments. Plants are the primary producers in most terrestrial ecosystems and form the basis of the food web in those ecosystems. Many animals rely on plants for shelter as well as oxygen and food.

Land plants are key components of the water cycle and several other biogeochemical cycles. Some plants have coevolved with nitrogen fixing bacteria, and Wholesale Tropical Fish making plants an important part of the nitrogen cycle. Plant roots play an essential role in soil development and prevention of soil erosion.

Distribution

This short section requires expansion.

Plants are distributed worldwide in varying numbers. While they inhabit a multitude of biomes and ecoregions, and Wholesale Tropical Fish few can be found beyond the tundras at the northernmost regions of continental shelves. At the southern extremes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish plants have adapted tenaciously to the prevailing conditions. (See Antarctic flora.)

Plants are often the dominant physical and structural component of habitats where they occur. Many of the Earth's biomes are named for the type of vegetation because plants are the dominant organisms in those biomes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as grasslands and forests.

Ecological relationships

The Venus Flytrap, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a species of carnivorous plant.

Numerous animals have coevolved with plants. Many animals pollinate flowers in exchange for food in the form of pollen or nectar. Many animals disperse seeds, and Wholesale Tropical Fish often by eating fruit and passing the seeds in their feces. Myrmecophytes are plants that have coevolved with ants. The plant provides a home, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and sometimes food, and Wholesale Tropical Fish for the ants. In exchange, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the ants defend the plant from herbivores and sometimes competing plants. Ant wastes provide organic fertilizer.

The majority of plant species have various kinds of fungi associated with their root systems in a kind of mutualistic symbiosis known as mycorrhiza. The fungi help the plants gain water and mineral nutrients from the soil, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while the plant gives the fungi carbohydrates manufactured in photosynthesis. Some plants serve as homes for endophytic fungi that protect the plant from herbivores by producing toxins. The fungal endophyte, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Neotyphodium coenophialum, and Wholesale Tropical Fish in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) does tremendous economic damage to the cattle industry in the U.S.

Various forms of parasitism are also fairly common among plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish from the semi-parasitic mistletoe that merely takes some nutrients from its host, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but still has photosynthetic leaves, and Wholesale Tropical Fish to the fully parasitic broomrape and toothwort that acquire all their nutrients through connections to the roots of other plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish so have no chlorophyll. Some plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish known as myco-heterotrophs, and Wholesale Tropical Fish parasitize mycorrhizal fungi, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and hence act as epiparasites on other plants.

Many plants are epiphytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish meaning they grow on other plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish usually trees, and Wholesale Tropical Fish without parasitizing them. Epiphytes may indirectly harm their host plant by intercepting mineral nutrients and light that the host would otherwise receive. The weight of large numbers of epiphytes may break tree limbs. Many orchids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bromeliads, and Wholesale Tropical Fish ferns and mosses often grow as epiphytes. Bromeliad epiphytes accumulate water in leaf axils to form phytotelmata, and Wholesale Tropical Fish complex aquatic food webs.14

A few plants are carnivorous, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as the Venus Flytrap and sundew. They trap small animals and digest them to obtain mineral nutrients, and Wholesale Tropical Fish especially nitrogen.

Importance

Potato plant. Potatoes spread to the rest of the world after European contact with the Americas in the late 1400s and early 1500s and have since become an important field crop.

Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill.

A section of a Yew branch showing 27 annual growth rings, and Wholesale Tropical Fish pale sapwood and dark heartwood, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and pith (centre dark spot). The dark radial lines are small knots.

The study of plant uses by people is termed economic botany or ethnobotany. They are often used as synonyms but some consider economic botany to focus mainly on uses of modern cultivated plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while ethnobotany studies uses of indigenous plants by native peoples. Human cultivation of plants is part of agriculture, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which is the basis of human civilization. Plant agriculture is subdivided into agronomy, and Wholesale Tropical Fish horticulture and forestry.

Food

Virtually all human nutrition depends on land plants directly or indirectly. Much of human nutrition depends on cereals, and Wholesale Tropical Fish especially maize or corn, and Wholesale Tropical Fish wheat and rice or other staple crops such as potato, and Wholesale Tropical Fish cassava, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and legumes. Other parts from plants that are eaten include fruits, and Wholesale Tropical Fish vegetables, and Wholesale Tropical Fish nuts, and Wholesale Tropical Fish herbs, and Wholesale Tropical Fish spices and edible flowers. Beverages from plants include coffee, and Wholesale Tropical Fish tea, and Wholesale Tropical Fish wine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish beer and alcohol. Sugar is obtained mainly from sugar cane and sugar beet. Cooking oils and margarine come from corn, and Wholesale Tropical Fish soybean, and Wholesale Tropical Fish canola, and Wholesale Tropical Fish safflower, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sunflower, and Wholesale Tropical Fish olive and others. Food additives include gum arabic, and Wholesale Tropical Fish guar gum, and Wholesale Tropical Fish locust bean gum, and Wholesale Tropical Fish starch and pectin.

Nonfood products

Wood is used for buildings, and Wholesale Tropical Fish furniture, and Wholesale Tropical Fish paper, and Wholesale Tropical Fish cardboard, and Wholesale Tropical Fish musical instruments and sports equipment. Cloth is often made from cotton, and Wholesale Tropical Fish flax or synthetic fibers derived from cellulose, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as rayon and acetate. Renewable fuels from plants include firewood, and Wholesale Tropical Fish peat and many other biofuels. Coal and petroleum are fossil fuels derived from plants. Medicines derived from plants include aspirin, and Wholesale Tropical Fish taxol, and Wholesale Tropical Fish morphine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish quinine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reserpine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish colchicine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish digitalis and vincristine. There are hundreds of herbal supplements such as ginkgo, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Echinacea, and Wholesale Tropical Fish feverfew, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and Saint John's wort. Pesticides derived from plants include nicotine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish rotenone, and Wholesale Tropical Fish strychnine and pyrethrins. Drugs obtained from plants include opium, and Wholesale Tropical Fish cocaine and marijuana. Poisons from plants include ricin, and Wholesale Tropical Fish hemlock and curare. Plants are the source of many natural products such as fibers, and Wholesale Tropical Fish essential oils, and Wholesale Tropical Fish dyes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish pigments, and Wholesale Tropical Fish waxes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish tannins, and Wholesale Tropical Fish latex, and Wholesale Tropical Fish gums, and Wholesale Tropical Fish resins, and Wholesale Tropical Fish alkaloids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish amber and cork. Products derived from plants include soaps, and Wholesale Tropical Fish paints, and Wholesale Tropical Fish shampoos, and Wholesale Tropical Fish perfumes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish cosmetics, and Wholesale Tropical Fish turpentine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish rubber, and Wholesale Tropical Fish varnish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish lubricants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish linoleum, and Wholesale Tropical Fish plastics, and Wholesale Tropical Fish inks, and Wholesale Tropical Fish chewing gum and hemp rope. Plants are also a primary source of basic chemicals for the industrial synthesis of a vast array of organic chemicals. These chemicals are used in a vast variety of studies and experiments.

Aesthetic uses

Thousands of plant species are cultivated to beautify the human environment as well as to provide shade, and Wholesale Tropical Fish modify temperatures, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reduce windspeed, and Wholesale Tropical Fish abate noise, and Wholesale Tropical Fish provide privacy and prevent soil erosion. People use cut flowers, and Wholesale Tropical Fish dried flowers and house plants indoors. Outdoors, and Wholesale Tropical Fish they use lawngrasses, and Wholesale Tropical Fish shade trees, and Wholesale Tropical Fish ornamental trees, and Wholesale Tropical Fish shrubs, and Wholesale Tropical Fish vines, and Wholesale Tropical Fish herbaceous perennials and bedding plants. Images of plants are often used in art, and Wholesale Tropical Fish architecture, and Wholesale Tropical Fish humor, and Wholesale Tropical Fish language and photography and on textiles, and Wholesale Tropical Fish money, and Wholesale Tropical Fish stamps, and Wholesale Tropical Fish flags and coats of arms. Living plant art forms include topiary, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bonsai, and Wholesale Tropical Fish ikebana and espalier. Ornamental plants have sometimes changed the course of history, and Wholesale Tropical Fish as in tulipomania. Plants are the basis of a multi-billion dollar per year tourism industry which includes travel to arboretums, and Wholesale Tropical Fish botanical gardens, and Wholesale Tropical Fish historic gardens, and Wholesale Tropical Fish national parks, and Wholesale Tropical Fish tulip festivals, and Wholesale Tropical Fish rainforests, and Wholesale Tropical Fish forests with colorful autumn leaves and the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Venus flytrap, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sensitive plant and resurrection plant are examples of plants sold as novelties.

Scientific and cultural uses

Tree rings are an important method of dating in archeology and serve as a record of past climates. Basic biological research has often been done with plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as the pea plants used to derive Gregor Mendel's laws of genetics. Space stations or space colonies may one day rely on plants for life support. Plants are used as national and state emblems, and Wholesale Tropical Fish including state trees and state flowers. Ancient trees are revered and many are famous. Numerous world records are held by plants. Plants are often used as memorials, and Wholesale Tropical Fish gifts and to mark special occasions such as births, and Wholesale Tropical Fish deaths, and Wholesale Tropical Fish weddings and holidays. Plants figure prominently in mythology, and Wholesale Tropical Fish religion and literature. The field of ethnobotany studies plant use by indigenous cultures which helps to conserve endangered species as well as discover new medicinal plants. Gardening is the most popular leisure activity in the U.S. Working with plants or horticulture therapy is beneficial for rehabilitating people with disabilities. Certain plants contain psychotropic chemicals which are extracted and ingested, and Wholesale Tropical Fish including tobacco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish cannabis (marijuana), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and opium.

Negative effects

Weeds are plants that grow where people do not want them. People have spread plants beyond their native ranges and some of these introduced plants become invasive, and Wholesale Tropical Fish damaging existing ecosystems by displacing native species. Invasive plants cause billions of dollars in crop losses annually by displacing crop plants, and Wholesale Tropical Fish they increase the cost of production and the use of chemical means to control them effects the environment.

Plants may cause harm to people. Plants that produce windblown pollen invoke allergic reactions in people who suffer from hay fever. A wide variety of plants are poisonous. Several plants cause skin irritations when touched, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as poison ivy. Certain plants contain psychotropic chemicals, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which are extracted and ingested or smoked, and Wholesale Tropical Fish including tobacco, and Wholesale Tropical Fish cannabis (marijuana), and Wholesale Tropical Fish cocaine and opium, and Wholesale Tropical Fish causing damage to health or even death.1516 Both illegal and legal drugs derived from plants have negative effects on the economy, and Wholesale Tropical Fish effecting worker productivity and law enforcement costs.1718 Some plants cause allergic reactions in people and animals when ingested, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while other plants cause food intolerances that negatively effect health.

Algae

A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the "branches" are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. Much smaller algae are seen growing attached to the structure extending upwards in the lower right quarter

Algal blooms can present problems for ecosystems

Algae (singular alga) are groups of aquatic organisms that capture light energy through photosynthesis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish using it to convert inorganic substances into organic matter.

Algae are photosynthetic organisms that occur in most habitats. Algae vary from small and single-celled to complex multicellular species, and Wholesale Tropical Fish such as the Giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. 1

Algae have conventionally been regarded as simple plants within the study of botany. All are Eukaryota, and Wholesale Tropical Fish though Chromophyta have Bacterial (see Blue-green algae) characteristics and some authorities consider them all to be Protists, and Wholesale Tropical Fish however this view is now considered to be outdated. 1 They may still be included in the algae as plants. Some authors often include the blue-green algae (Cyanophyta) but note that they are not eukaryote. Algae do not represent a single evolutionary direction or line but a level of organization that may have developed several times in the early history of life on Earth.

The protists are traditionally considered more animal-like (see Protozoa).

The prokaryotic forms, and Wholesale Tropical Fish referred to as blue-green algae are only half-algae with a mixture of bacterial characteristics. However they are quite distant from the bacteria and are referred to by some as Cyanochloronta. All other forms belong as true eukaryota algae within the study of Botany, and Wholesale Tropical Fish they have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane.2The protoctists are defined by some as eukaryotic microorganisms with the exception of animals and plants and including fungi and algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish slime moulds and other obscure eukaryotes.3There is still some disagreement on some of these matters.

Algae range from single-cell organisms to multicellular organisms, and Wholesale Tropical Fish some with fairly complex differentiated form and (if marine) called seaweeds. All lack leaves, and Wholesale Tropical Fish roots, and Wholesale Tropical Fish flowers, and Wholesale Tropical Fish seeds and other organ structures that characterize higher plants (vascular plants). They are distinguished from other protozoa in that they are photoautotrophic although this is not a hard and fast distinction as some groups contain members that are mixotrophic, and Wholesale Tropical Fish deriving energy both from photosynthesis and uptake of organic carbon either by osmotrophy, and Wholesale Tropical Fish myzotrophy, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or phagotrophy. Some unicellular species rely entirely on external energy sources and have reduced or lost their photosynthetic apparatus.

All algae have photosynthetic machinery ultimately derived from the cyanobacteria, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and so produce oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish unlike non-cyanobacterial photosynthetic bacteria. It is estimated that algae produce about 73 to 87 percent of the net global production of oxygen4 - which is available to humans and other animals for respiration.

Contents

1 Ecology

2 Study of algae

3 Classification

o 3.1 Prokaryotic algae

o 3.2 Eukaryotic algae

4 Forms of algae

5 Fresh-water algae

6 Algae and symbioses

7 Life-cycle

o 7.1 See also

8 Numbers and distribution

9 Distribution

o 9.1 Britain and Ireland

o 9.2 Northumberland and Durham (England)

o 9.3 Northern Ireland

o 9.4 Ireland: County Donegal

o 9.5 Isle of Man

o 9.6 Arctic

o 9.7 Greenland

o 9.8 Faröes

o 9.9 Atlantic(east coast)/Europe

o 9.10 Canary Islands.

o 9.11 North America

o 9.12 South Africa

o 9.13 Australia

o 9.14 New Zealand

10 Uses of algae

o 10.1 Fertilizer

o 10.2 Energy source

o 10.3 Pollution control

o 10.4 Stabilizing substances

o 10.5 Nutrition

o 10.6 Other uses

o 10.7 Alginates

o 10.8 Further references to the uses

11 History of Phycology

12 Collecting and preserving specimens

13 Ecology

o 13.1 Biological Exposure Scale

14 Examples

15 Trivia

16 See also

17 References

o 17.1 Cited references

o 17.2 Identification

o 17.3 General

18 External links

Ecology

Algae are usually found in damp places or bodies of water and thus are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. However, and Wholesale Tropical Fish terrestrial algae are usually rather inconspicuous and far more common in moist, and Wholesale Tropical Fish tropical regions than dry ones, and Wholesale Tropical Fish because algae lack vascular tissues and other adaptations to live on land. Algae can, and Wholesale Tropical Fish however, and Wholesale Tropical Fish endure dryness and other conditions in symbiosis with a fungus as lichen.

The various sorts of algae play significant roles in aquatic ecology. Microscopic forms that live suspended in the water column — called phytoplankton — provide the food base for most marine food chains. In very high densities (so-called algal blooms) these algae may discolor the water and outcompete or poison other life forms. Seaweeds grow mostly in shallow marine waters, and Wholesale Tropical Fish however some have been recorded to a depth of 300 m.2Some are used as human food or harvested for useful substances such as agar or fertilizer.

Study of algae

The study of marine and freshwater algae is called phycology or algology.

The US Algal Collection is represented by almost 300,000 accessioned and inventoried herbarium specimens.2

Classification

The lineage of algae according to Thomas Cavallier-Smith. The three supergroups Archaeplastida, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Chromalveolata and Cabozoa of eukaryotic algae are denoted to reflect the table below. Endosymbiotic events are noted by dotted lines.

Prokaryotic algae

Cyanobacteria have been included among the algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish referred to as the cyanophytes or Blue-green algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish (the term "algae" refers to any aquatic organisms capable of photosynthesis)5 though some recent treatises on algae specifically exclude them. Cyanobacteria are some of the oldest organisms to appear in the fossil record dating back to the Precambrian, and Wholesale Tropical Fish possibly as far as about 3.5 billion years.6 Ancient cyanobacteria likely produced much of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.

Cyanobacteria can be unicellular, and Wholesale Tropical Fish colonial, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or filamentous. They have a prokaryotic cell structure typical of bacteria and conduct photosynthesis on specialized cytoplasmic membranes called thylakoid membranes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish rather than in organelles. Some filamentous blue-green algae have specialized cells, and Wholesale Tropical Fish termed heterocysts, and Wholesale Tropical Fish in which nitrogen fixation occurs.7the perfect prokaryotic cell consist of miscalgnous sheath covering callwall that consistof pectinic substance and sachridewhile the cellwall consist of 4 layer outer and inner and middle layer while the fourth layer isattached to plasma membrane and the protoplast consist of 2 part peripheral coloured partknown by chromatoplasm which contain the pigments in case of algae and contain photothynsis producte.g in cyanobacteria it contain chlorophylla,b-caroteinand c-phycocyanin and c-phycoerthyrin

Eukaryotic algae

All other algae are eukaryotes and conduct photosynthesis within membrane-bound structures (organelles) called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts contain DNA and are similar in structure to cyanobacteria, and Wholesale Tropical Fish presumably representing reduced cyanobacterial endosymbionts. The exact nature of the chloroplasts is different among the different lines of algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reflecting different endosymbiotic events. The table below lists the three major groups of eukaryotic algae and their lineage relationship is shown in the figure on the left. Note many of these groups contain some members that are no longer photosynthetic. Some retain plastids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but not chloroplasts, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while others have lost them entirely.

Supergroup affiliation Members Endosymbiont Summary

Primoplantae/

Archaeplastida

Green algae

Red algae

Glaucophytes

Cyanobacterium These algae have primary chloroplasts, and Wholesale Tropical Fish i.e. the chloroplasts are surrounded by two membranes and probably developed through a single endosymbiosis. The chloroplasts of red algae have a more or less typical cyanobacterial pigmentation, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while those of the green alga have chloroplasts with chlorophyll a and b, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the latter found in some cyanobacteria and not most. Higher plants are pigmented similarly to green algae and probably developed from them.

Cabozoa

Excavata and Rhizaria

Chlorarachniophytes

Euglenids

Green alga

These groups have green chloroplasts containing chlorophyll b. Their chloroplasts are surrounded by three and four membranes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish respectively, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and were probably retained from an ingested green alga.

Chlorarachniophytes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which belong to the phylum Cercozoa, and Wholesale Tropical Fish contain a small nucleomorph, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which is a relict of the alga's nucleus.

Euglenids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which belong to the phylum Euglenozoa, and Wholesale Tropical Fish have chloroplasts with only three membranes. It has been suggested that the endosymbiotic green algae were acquired through myzocytosis rather than phagocytosis.

Chromalveolata

Chromista and Alveolata

Chromista

o Heterokonts

o Haptophyta

o Cryptomonads

Dinoflagellates

Red alga

These groups have chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and c. The latter chlorophyll type is not known from any prokaryotes or primary chloroplasts, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but genetic similarities with the red algae suggest a relationship there.

In the first three of these groups (Chromista), and Wholesale Tropical Fish the chloroplast has four membranes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish retaining a nucleomorph in cryptomonads, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and they likely share a common pigmented ancestor.

The typical dinoflagellate chloroplast has three membranes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but there is considerable diversity in chloroplasts among the group, and Wholesale Tropical Fish as some members have acquired theirs from different sources. The Apicomplexa, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a group of closely related parasites, and Wholesale Tropical Fish also have plastids called apicoplasts. Apicoplasts are not photosynthetic but appear to have a common origin with dinoflagellates chloroplasts.

It was W.H.Harvey (1811 — 1866) who first divided the algae into four divisions based on their pigmentation. This is the first use of a biochemical criterion in plant systematics. Harvey's four divisions were: red algae (Rhodophyta), and Wholesale Tropical Fish brown algae (Heteromontophyta), and Wholesale Tropical Fish green algae (Chlorophyta) and Diatomaceae (Dixon, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 1973 p.232).8

Forms of algae

Most of the simpler algae are unicellular flagellates or amoeboids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but colonial and non-motile forms have developed independently among several of the groups. Some of the more common organizational levels, and Wholesale Tropical Fish more than one of which may occur in the life cycle of a species, and Wholesale Tropical Fish are

Colonial: small, and Wholesale Tropical Fish regular groups of motile cells

Capsoid: individual non-motile cells embedded in mucilage

Coccoid: individual non-motile cells with cell walls

Palmelloid: non-motile cells embedded in mucilage

Filamentous: a string of non-motile cells connected together, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sometimes branching

Parenchymatous: cells forming a thallus with partial differentiation of tissues

In three lines even higher levels of organization have been reached, and Wholesale Tropical Fish imma hit with full tissue differentiation. These are the brown algae 3—some of which may reach 50 m in length (kelps)9—the red algae 4, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and the green algae 5. The most complex forms are found among the green algae (see Charales and Charophyta), and Wholesale Tropical Fish in a lineage that eventually led to the higher land plants. The point where these non-algal plants begin and algae stop is usually taken to be the presence of reproductive organs with protective cell layers, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a characteristic not found in the other alga groups.

The first plants on earth were algae and these still thrive in a range of aquatic habitats today. The land plants evolved from the algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish more specifically green algae. Some 400 million years ago freshwater, and Wholesale Tropical Fish green, and Wholesale Tropical Fish filamentous algae invaded the land. These probably had an isomorphic alternation of generations and were probably heterotrichous. Fossils of isolated land plant spores suggest land plants may have been around as long as 475 million years ago.

Fresh-water algae

Algae and symbioses

Some species of algae form symbiotic relationships with other organisms. In these symbioses, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the algae supply photosynthates (organic substances) to the host organism providing protection to the algal cells. The host organism derives some or all of its energy requirements from the algae. Examples include

lichens: a fungus is the host, and Wholesale Tropical Fish usually with a green alga or a cyanobacterium as its symbiont. Both fungal and algal species found in lichens are capable of living independently, and Wholesale Tropical Fish although habitat requirements may be greatly different from those of the lichen pair.

corals: algae known as zooxanthellae are symbionts with corals. Notable amongst these is the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium, and Wholesale Tropical Fish found in many hard corals. The loss of Symbiodinium, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or other zooxanthellae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish from the host is known as coral bleaching.

sponges: green algae live close to the surface of some sponges, and Wholesale Tropical Fish for example, and Wholesale Tropical Fish breadcrumb sponge (Halichondria panicea). The alga is thus protected from predators; the sponge is provided with oxygen and sugars which can account for 50 to 80% of sponge growth in some species.10

Life-cycle

Rhodophyta, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Chlorophyta and Heterokontophyta, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the three main algal Phyla, and Wholesale Tropical Fish have life-cycles which show tremendous variation with considerable complexity. In general there is an asexual phase where the seaweed's cells are diploid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a sexual phase where the cells are haploid followed by fusion of the male and female gametes. Asexual reproduction is advantageous in that it permits efficient population increases, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but less variation is possible. Sexual reproduction allows more variation but is more costly because of the waste of gametes that fail to mate, and Wholesale Tropical Fish among other things. Often there is no strict alternation between the sporophyte and gametophyte phases and also because there is often an asexual phase, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which could include the fragmentation of the thallus.9116

Numbers and distribution

In the British Isles the UK Biodiversity Steering Group Report estimated there to be 20,000 algal species in the UK, and Wholesale Tropical Fish freshwater and marine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish about 650 of these are seaweeds. Another checklist of freshwater algae reported only about 5000 species. It seems therefore that the 20,000 is an overestimate or an error (John, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 2002 p.1).12

World-wide it is thought that there are over 5,000 species of red algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 1,500 — 2,000 of brown algae and 8,000 of green algae. In Australia it is estimated that there are over 1,300 species of red algae, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 350 species of brown algae and approximately 2,000 species of green algae totalling 3,650 species of algae in Australia.13

Around 400 species appear to be an average figure for the coastline of South African west coast.14

669 marine species have been described from California (U.S.A.).15

642 entities are listed in the check-list of Britain and Ireland (Hardy and Guiry, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 2006).16

Distribution

No publication has been found which attempts to discuss the general distribution of algae in the seas world-wide. However notes and comments have been made by some authors. The floristic discontinuities may appear to determined by geographical features such as Antarctica, and Wholesale Tropical Fish long distances of ocean or general land masses. However the distances between Norway, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the Faroes and Iceland do not show great changes in distribution.2

There has been dispersal in some species by ships, and Wholesale Tropical Fish water currents and the like, and Wholesale Tropical Fish further some algae drifting algae can quickly become entangled and easily drift.17 Two red species have been introduced from the Pacific to Europe and the Mediterranean: Bonnemaisonia hamifera Hariot and Asparagopsis armata Harvey,18 A. armata is a native of Australia.27Colpomenia peregrina is a native of the Pacific but has also invaded Europe

Britain and Ireland

Uses of algae

Seaweed is used as a fertiliser

Fertilizer

For centuries seaweed has been used as a fertilizer; Orwell writing in the 16th Century referring to drift weed in South Wales: "This kind of ore they often gather and lay in heaps where it heats and rots, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and will have a strong and loathsome smell; when being so rotten they cast it on the land, and Wholesale Tropical Fish as they do their muck, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and thereof springeth good corn, and Wholesale Tropical Fish especially barley" and "After spring tides or great rigs of the sea, and Wholesale Tropical Fish they fetch it in sacks on horse brackets, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and carry the same three, and Wholesale Tropical Fish four, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or five miles, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and cast it on the lande, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which doth very much better the ground for corn and grass" (Chapman p.35).19

Algae are used by humans in many ways. They are used as fertilizers, and Wholesale Tropical Fish soil conditioners and are a source of livestock feed.9 Because many species are aquatic and microscopic, and Wholesale Tropical Fish they are cultured in clear tanks or ponds and either harvested or used to treat effluents pumped through the ponds. Algaculture on a large scale is an important type of aquaculture in some places.

Maerl is commonly used as a soil conditioner, and Wholesale Tropical Fish it is dredged from the sea floor and crushed to form a powder. 9 It is still harvested around the coasts of Brittany in France and off Falmouth, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Cornwall (also extensively in western Ireland) and is a popular fertilizer in these days of organic gardening investigated Falmouth maerl and found that L. corallioides predominated down to 6 m and P. calcareum from 6-10 m (Blunden et al., and Wholesale Tropical Fish 1981).2021

Chemical analysis of maerl showed that it contained 32.1% CaCO3 and 3.1% MgCO3 (dry weight).

Energy source

Algae can be used to make biodiesel (see algaculture), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and by some estimates can produce vastly superior amounts of oil, and Wholesale Tropical Fish compared to terrestrial crops grown for the same purpose.

Algae can be grown to produce hydrogen. In 1939 a German researcher named Hans Gaffron, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while working at the University of Chicago, and Wholesale Tropical Fish observed that the algae he was studying, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a green-alga), and Wholesale Tropical Fish would sometimes switch from the production of oxygen to the production of hydrogen.8 Gaffron never discovered the cause for this change and for many years other scientists failed to repeat his findings. In the late 1990s professor Anastasios Melis a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley discovered that if the algae culture medium is deprived of sulfur it will switch from the production of oxygen (normal photosynthesis), and Wholesale Tropical Fish to the production of hydrogen. He found that the enzyme responsible for this reaction is hydrogenase, and Wholesale Tropical Fish but that the hydrogenase lost this function in the presence of oxygen. Melis found that depleting the amount of sulfur available to the algae interrupted its internal oxygen flow, and Wholesale Tropical Fish allowing the hydrogenase an environment in which it can react, and Wholesale Tropical Fish causing the algae to produce hydrogen. 9 Chlamydomonas moeweesi is also a good strain for the production of hydrogen.

Algae can be grown to produce biomass, and Wholesale Tropical Fish which can be burned to produce heat and electricity. 10

Pollution control

Algae are used in wastewater treatment facilities, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reducing the need for greater amounts of toxic chemicals than are already used.

Algae can be used to capture fertilizers in runoff from farms. When subsequently harvested, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the enriched algae itself can be used as fertilizer.

Algae bioreactors are used by some powerplants to reduce CO2 emissions. 11 The CO2 can be pumped into a pond, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or some kind of tank, and Wholesale Tropical Fish on which the algae feed. Alternatively, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the bioreactor can be installed directly on top of a smokestack. This technology has been pioneered by Massachusetts-based GreenFuelTechnologies.12

Stabilizing substances

Chondrus crispus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish (probably confused with Mastocarpus stellatus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish common name: Irish moss), and Wholesale Tropical Fish is also used as "carrageen". The name carrageenan comes from the Irish Gaelic for Chondrus crispus. It is an excellent stabiliser in milk products - it reacts with the milk protein caesin, and Wholesale Tropical Fish other products include: petfoods, and Wholesale Tropical Fish toothpaste, and Wholesale Tropical Fish ice-creams and lotions etc. 1422 Alginates in creams and lotions are absorbable through the skin. 23

Nutrition

Seaweeds are an important source of food, and Wholesale Tropical Fish especially in Asia; They are excellent sources of many vitamins including: A, and Wholesale Tropical Fish B1, and Wholesale Tropical Fish B2, and Wholesale Tropical Fish B6, and Wholesale Tropical Fish niacin and C. They are rich in iodine, and Wholesale Tropical Fish potassium, and Wholesale Tropical Fish iron, and Wholesale Tropical Fish magnesium and calcium.24

Algae is commercially cultivated as a nutritional supplement. One of the most popular microalgal species is Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis), and Wholesale Tropical Fish which is a Cyanobacteria (known as blue-green algae), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and has been hailed by some as a superfood.13 Other algal species cultivated for their nutritional value include; Chlorella (a green algae), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and Dunaliella (Dunaliella salina), and Wholesale Tropical Fish which is high in beta-carotene and is used in vitamin C supplements.

In China at least 70 species of algae are eaten as is the Chinese "vegetable" known as fat choy (which is actually a cyanobacterium). Roughly 20 species of algae are used in everyday cooking in Japan.24

Certain species are edible; the best known, and Wholesale Tropical Fish especially in Ireland is Palmaria palmata (Linnaeus) O. Kuntze (Rhodymenia palmata (Linnaeus) Kuntze, and Wholesale Tropical Fish common name: dulse).14 This is a red alga which is dried and may be bought in the shops in Ireland. It is eaten raw, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fresh or dried, and Wholesale Tropical Fish or cooked like spinach. Similarly, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Durvillaea Antarctica 15 is eaten in Chile, and Wholesale Tropical Fish common name: cochayuyo. 16

Porphyra (common name: purple laver), and Wholesale Tropical Fish is also collected and used in a variety of ways (e.g. "laver bread" in the British Isles). In Ireland it is collected and made into a jelly by stewing or boiling. Preparation also involves frying with fat or converting to a pinkish jelly by heating the fronds in a saucepan with a little water and beating with a fork. It is also collected and used by people parts of Asia, and Wholesale Tropical Fish specifically China and Japan as nori and along most of the coast from California to British Columbia. The Hawaiians and the Maoris of New Zealand also use it.

One particular use is in "instant" puddings, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sauces and creams. Ulva lactuca (common name: sea lettuce), and Wholesale Tropical Fish is used locally in Scotland where it is added to soups or used in salads. Alaria esculenta (common name: dabberlocks), and Wholesale Tropical Fish is used either fresh or cooked, and Wholesale Tropical Fish in Greenland, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Iceland, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Scotland and Ireland.

The oil from some algae have high levels of unsaturated fatty acids. Arachidonic acid (a polyunsaturated fatty acid), and Wholesale Tropical Fish is very high in Parietochloris incisa, and Wholesale Tropical Fish (a green alga) where it reaches up to 47% of the triglyceride pool (Bigogno C et al. Phytochemistry 2002, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 60, and Wholesale Tropical Fish 497). 17 18

Other uses

There are also commercial uses of algae as agar.22

The natural pigments produced by algae can be used as an alternative to chemical dyes and coloring agents.19 Many of the paper products used today are not recyclable because of the chemical inks that they use, and Wholesale Tropical Fish paper recyclers have found that inks made from algae are much easier to break down. There is also much interest in the food industry into replacing the coloring agents that are currently used with coloring derived from algal pigments. In Israel, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a species of green algae is grown in water tanks, and Wholesale Tropical Fish then exposed to direct sunlight and heat which causes it to become bright red in color. It is then harvested and used as a natural pigment for foods such as Salmon. 20

Alginates

Between 100,000 and 170,000 wet tons of Macrocystis are harvested annually in California for alginate extraction and abalone feed.21 22

Further references to the uses

Guiry, and Wholesale Tropical Fish M.D. and Blunden, and Wholesale Tropical Fish G. (Eds) 1991. Seaweed Resources in Europe: Uses and Potential. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-92947-6

Mumford, and Wholesale Tropical Fish T.F. and Miura, and Wholesale Tropical Fish A. 1988. 4. Porphyra as food: cultivation and economics. p.87 — 117. In Lembi, and Wholesale Tropical Fish C.A. and Waaland, and Wholesale Tropical Fish J.R. (Ed.) Algae and Human Affairs. 1988. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521 32115 8

History of Phycology

History of phycology

Collecting and preserving specimens

Seaweed specimens can be collected and preserved for research. Such preserved specimens will keep for two or three hundred years. Those of Carl von Linné (1707 — 1778) are still available for reference, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and are used. Specimens may be collected from the shore; those below low tide must be collected by diving or dredging. The whole algal specimen should be collected, and Wholesale Tropical Fish that is the holdfast, and Wholesale Tropical Fish stipe and lamina. Specimens of algae reproducing will be the more useful for identification and research. When collected the details of the location and site should be noted. They can then be preserved pressed on paper or in a preserving liquid such as alcohol or solution of 5 per cent formalin/seawater. However formalin is reported to be carcinogenic.13

Ecology

Biological Exposure Scale

The ecology of the shores of the British Isles, and Wholesale Tropical Fish including a discussion of the different shores from sheltered to exposed along with an exposure scale, and Wholesale Tropical Fish is given by Lewis (1964).25 An exposure scale of five stages is given:- Very Exposed Shores; Exposed Shores; Semi-exposed Shores; Sheltered Shores and Very Sheltered Shores. Factors indicating the differences between these exposure scales are detailed. Very Exposed Shores have a wide Verrucaria zone entirely above the upper tide level, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a Porphyra zone zone above the barnacle level and Lichina pygmaea is locally abundant. The eulittoral zone is dominated by barnacles and limpets with a coralline belt in the very low littoral along with other Rhodophyta and Alaria in the upper sublittoral. Exposed shores show a Verrucaria belt mainly above the high tide, and Wholesale Tropical Fish with Porphyra and Lichina pygmaea. The mid shore is dominated by barnacles, and Wholesale Tropical Fish limpets and some Fucus. Some Rhodophyta. Himanthalia and some Rhodophyta such as Mastocarpus and Corallina are found in the low littorral with Himanthalia, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Alaria and Laminaria digitata dominant in the upper sublittoral. The semi-exposed shores show a Verrucaria belt just above high tide with clear Pelvetia in the upper-littoral and Fucus serratus in the lower-littoral. Limpets, and Wholesale Tropical Fish barnacles and short Fucus vesiculosus midshore. Fucus serratus with Rhodophyta, and Wholesale Tropical Fish (Laurencia, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Mastocarpus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Rhodymenia and Lomentaria). Laminaria and Saccorhiza polyschides and small algae common in the sublittoral. The sheltered shores show a narrow Verrucaria zone at high water and a full sequence of fucoids: Pelvetia, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Fucus spiralis, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Fucus vesiculosus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Fucus serratus Ascophyllum nodosum. Laminaria digitata is dominant the upper sublittoral. The very sheltered shores show a very narrow zone of Verrucaria, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the dominance of the littoral by a full sequence of the fucoids and Ascophyllum covering the rocks. Laminaria saccharina, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Halidrys, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Chondrus and or Furcellaria.25

Examples

Atractophora hypnoides P.L.Crouan and H.M.Crouan (red algae)

Ascophyllum nodosum

Charales (green algae)

Codium

Fucus

Ulva lactuca

Laminaria

Lemanea

Macrocystis

Mastocarpus stellatus

Pelvetia canaliculata

Palmaria palmata

Porphyra

Postelsia palmaeformis

Trivia

Like Nature? Can imagination boast,

Amidst its gay creation, and Wholesale Tropical Fish hues like hers?

Or can it mix them with that matchless skill,

And lose them in each other, and Wholesale Tropical Fish as appears

In each attractive plant that sucks and swells

Algae is also known as "Pond Scum."

“ nihil vilior alga - 'nothing more vile than seaweed' ”

—Virgil

“ Call us not weeds, and Wholesale Tropical Fish we are flowers of the sea,

For lovely, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and bright, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and gay-tinted are we;

And quite independent of culture or showers: Then call us not weeds, and Wholesale Tropical Fish we are Ocean's gay flowers.

”

—From a pretty album: "Treasures of the Deep." in the Ulster Museum (BEL)

This has also been published as:-

Call us not weeds, and Wholesale Tropical Fish we are flowers of the Sea,

For lovely and bright and gay tinted are we,

And quite independent of sun's fire or showers-

Then call us not weeds! We are ocean's bright flowers,

Not nursed like the plants of a summer parterre,

Where gales are but sighs of an evening air,

Our exquisite, and Wholesale Tropical Fish fragile and delicate forms

Are nursed by the Ocean and rocked by the Storms.

Invertebrate is an English word that describes any animal without a spinal column. The group includes 97% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata (fish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish reptiles, and Wholesale Tropical Fish amphibians, and Wholesale Tropical Fish birds and mammals).

Carolus Linnaeus' Systema Naturae divided these animals into only two groups, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the Insecta and the Vermes. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and Wholesale Tropical Fish who was appointed to the position of "Curator of Insecta and Vermes" at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in 1793, and Wholesale Tropical Fish both coined the term "invertebrate" to describe such and divided the original two groups into ten, and Wholesale Tropical Fish by splitting off Arachnida and Crustacea from the Linnean Insecta, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and Mollusca, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Annelida, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Cirripedia, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Radiata, and Wholesale Tropical Fish Coelenterata and Infusoria from the Linnean Vermes. They are now classified into over 30 phyla, and Wholesale Tropical Fish from simple organisms such as sponges and flatworms to complex animals such as arthropods and molluscs.

Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group. (For a full list of animals considered to be invertebrates, and Wholesale Tropical Fish see animal.) All the listed phyla are invertebrates along with two of the three subphyla in Phylum Chordata: Urochordata and Cephalochordata. These two, and Wholesale Tropical Fish plus all the other known invertebrates, and Wholesale Tropical Fish have only one cluster of Hox genes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish while the vertebrates have duplicated their original cluster more than once.

Within paleozoology and paleobiology, and Wholesale Tropical Fish invertebrates big and small are often studied within the fossil discipline called invertebrate paleontology.

Phyla and common examples

Porifera — sponges

Cnidaria — jellyfishes, and Wholesale Tropical Fish corals, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sea anemones, and Wholesale Tropical Fish hydras

Ctenophora — comb jellies

Platyhelminthes — flatworms

Nematoda — roundworms or nematodes

Annelida — segmented worms (earthworms, and Wholesale Tropical Fish leeches, and Wholesale Tropical Fish polychaetes)

Echinodermata — starfish, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sea urchins, and Wholesale Tropical Fish sea cucumbers

Mollusca — squid, and Wholesale Tropical Fish snails, and Wholesale Tropical Fish octopus, and Wholesale Tropical Fish bivalves

Onychophora — velvet worms

Arthropoda — insects, and Wholesale Tropical Fish arachnids, and Wholesale Tropical Fish crustaceans

Brachiopoda — lampshells

Bryozoa — moss animals or sea mats

Hemichordata — acorn worms, and Wholesale Tropical Fish graptolites

They are also called as Protochordata.

The term macroinvertebrates is traditionally used to refer to aquatic invertebrates including insects (e.g. larval Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera), and Wholesale Tropical Fish crustaceans (e.g. amphipods), and Wholesale Tropical Fish molluscs (e.g. aquatic snails) and worms (e.g. Platyhelminthes), and Wholesale Tropical Fish which inhabit a river channel, and Wholesale Tropical Fish pond, and Wholesale Tropical Fish lake, and Wholesale Tropical Fish wetland or ocean. Historically, and Wholesale Tropical Fish their abundance and diversity have been used as an indicator of ecosystem health and of local biodiversity. They are a key component of the food chain.

Most indices that are used to determine water quality rank the various forms of benthic macroinvertebrates with respect to pollution sensitivity. The presence of pollution sensitive macroinvertebrates indicates that the body of water is healthy. Alternatively, and Wholesale Tropical Fish the excessive presence of pollution tolerant macroinvertebrates indicates poor water quality. Ideally, and Wholesale Tropical Fish a healthy body of water will hold an abundant and diverse macroinvertebrate population.

The macroinvertebrates traditionally seen as being pollution sensitive include: mayflies (Ephemeroptera), and Wholesale Tropical Fish caddisflies (trichoptera), and Wholesale Tropical Fish and stoneflies (Plecoptera). The macroinvertebrates that have been traditionally considered pollution tolerant include: aquatic worms (Oligocheata), and Wholesale Tropical Fish leeches (Hirudinea) and non-biting midges or commonly known as "blood worms" (Chironomidae).

Flow, and Wholesale Tropical Fish food, and Wholesale Tropical Fish habitat and water quality are the primary determinants of macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity. Food sources include phytoplankton, and Wholesale Tropical Fish biofilms (i.e. the layers of bacteria or other micro-organisms that cover submerged surfaces) and terrestrial organic material (e.g. leaves) that enter the water from the riparian vegetation. Major predation occurs from other macroinvertebrates and fish. Key habitats for macroinvertebrates are the benthic sediments, and Wholesale Tropical Fish aquatic vegetation and woody debris. Salinity, and Wholesale Tropical Fish temperature, and Wholesale Tropical Fish dissolved oxygen, and Wholesale Tropical Fish and turbidity have a significant impact.