Of the nearly 50,000 species of animals with backbones, approximately 4,500 are mammals, 9,700 are birds, 6,500 are reptiles, 4,000 are amphibians, and 25,000 are fishes. In fact, there are about as many species of fishes than there are of all other vertebrates combined (Fig. 4.3).ĭefining a fish is difficult because the term fish includes a very wide range of aquatic animals. However, a convict tang together with a moray eel would be 2 fishes (Fig. For example, 1 convict tang is a fish, 2 convict tangs are 2 fish, and a group of 20 convict tangs are still 20 fish (Fig. If you have two fish, it means you have two individual fish that are the same species, but if you have two fishes, it means you have two individual fish of different species. Image courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA)
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