4 hours. 3 hours lecture and 3 hours lab per week.
Ichthyology
Analytical Thinking
Course Description
Diversity, adaptation, evolutionary relationships, taxonomy, ecology and conservation of world fishes.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: Graduate students are required to write a 15 page research paper.
Athena Title
ICHTHYOLOGY
Prerequisite
BIOL 1108-1108L
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will analyze patterns of fish diversity, distribution, and evolutionary relationships across marine and freshwater systems.
Students will interpret and recognize trends in how physiological, anatomical, and behavioral adaptations enable fishes across major lineages to meet ecological challenges in aquatic environments.
Students will evaluate how human activities influence fish diversity, distribution, and abundance by assessing the credibility and limitations of scientific evidence.
Students will critically assess why some fishes are more vulnerable to environmental change and human impacts than others.
Topical Outline
Diversity and distribution of world fishes
Georgia Fishes
Cephalochordates and Agnathans
Chondrichthyes: Shark Diversity and Conservation
Sarcopterygii: Lungfishes and Coelacanths
Sturgeons
Before the Teleosts: Bichirs, Gars, and Bowfin
Fish Evolution
Teleosts at last: Elopomorpha
Osteoglossomorpha
Ostarioclupeomorpha (Otocephala)
Ostariophysi: rulers of Freshwater
Protacanthopterygii: Salmon, Smelt, Pike, etc.
Weird deep-sea fishes and convergence
Acanthopterygii
Explosive speciation
Physiology of vision and behavioral ecology of coloration
Group mentalities: why fishes school
Diadromous fisheries conservation
Fishes out of water
Southeastern Fishes Biodiversity
Marine fisheries conservation
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
