Animal protein, generally fish meal, has traditionally been used in the diet of channel catfish. However, our previous research indicates that animal protein is not needed for growing stockersize catfish to food fish when the fish are stocked at densities typical of those used in commercial catfish culture. Whether this holds when fish are stocked at high densities is not known; thus, we conduc...

The relationships between diversity and ecosystem functioning have become a major focus of science. A crucial issue is to estimate functional diversity, as it is intended to impact ecosystem dynamics and stability. However, depending on the ecosystem, it may be challenging or even impossible to directly measure ecological functions and thus functional diversity. Phylogenetic diversity was recen...

As in evaluation of the nutritive value of food articles, Iranian nutritionist used to use the nutritional tables from scientific resources other than the native ones, such differences could be regarded as source of error when the homemade fish oil products are used as a supplement of Vitamin D3 in the recommended diets; however, to clearly address the issue, more study should be conducted on t...

The purpose of the study was to determine the microbiological status of 161 samples cooled and frozen fish products collected from retail markets in the Republic of Bulgaria. The highest total viable counts (TVCs) in cooled fish products were established for silver carp (7.30 log cfu/g), Black sea roach (7.28 log cfu/g) and trout (7.11 log cfu/g), followed by common carp (6.81 log cfu/g), vacuu...

Extant vertebrates are divided into three major groups: hagfishes (Hyperotreti, myxinoids), lampreys (Hyperoartia, petromyzontids), and jawed vertebrates (Gnathostomata). The phylogenetic relationships among the groups and within the jawed vertebrates are controversial, for both morphological and molecular studies have rendered themselves to conflicting interpretations. Here, we use the sequenc...

The elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) are cartilaginous fishes that are important predatory and scavenging species within aquatic ecosystems, and as living resources to human societies globally in cultural, economic, health, biodiversity and conservation contexts. There are over 900 extant species, including the world’s largest fish (the whale shark Rhincodon typus), that arose sometime d...

heavy metals entrance to fish body tissues and transferring to human body systems after their consuming makes numerous undesirable effects and health problems. the aim of this study was to determine some heavy metals (lead, cadmium and mercury) in fresh fishes marketed in khorramabad city, west of iran. in this descriptive study, five samples of 17 fish species with high consumption were purcha...

The traditionally accepted relationships among basal jawed vertebrates have been challenged by some molecular phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial sequences. Those studies split extant gnathostomes into two monophyletic groups: tetrapods and piscine branch, including Chondrichthyes, Actinopterygii and sarcopterygian fishes. Lungfish and bichir are found in a basal position on the piscin...

The relationship between the Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fishes), the Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes), and the piscine Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes) and how the Tetrapoda (four-limbed terrestrial vertebrates) are related to these has been a contentious issue for more than a century. A general consensus about the relationship of these vertebrate clades has gradually emerged among morph...