Among the fishes, a remarkably wide range of biological adaptations to diverse habitats has evolved. As well as living in the conventional habitats of lakes, ponds, rivers, rock pools and the open sea, fish have solved the problems of life in deserts, in the deep sea, in the cold antarctic, and in warm waters of high alkalinity or of low oxygen. Along with these adaptations, we find the most impressive specializations of morphology, physiology and behaviour. For example we can marvel at the high-speed swimming of the marlins, sailfish and warm-blooded tunas, air-breathing in catfish and lungfish, parental care in the mouth-brooding cichlids and viviparity in many sharks and toothcarps. Moreover, fish are of considerable importance to the survival of the human species in the form of nutritious and delicious food of numerous kinds. Rational expoitation and management of our global stocks of fishes must rely upon a detailed and precise insight of their biology. The Chapman and Hall Fish and Fisheries Series aims to present timely volumes reviewing important aspects of fish biology. Most volumes will be of interest to research workers in biology, zoology, ecology and physiology but an additional aim is for the books to be accessible to a wide spectrum of non­ specialist readers ranging from undergraduates and postgraduates to those with an interest in industrial and commercial aspects of fish and fisheries.

1 Introduction.- 1.1 The diversity of teleost fishes.- 1.2 Defining the problem.- 1.3 Organization of the text.- 1.4 Adaptive response to environmental change.- 1.5 Summary and conclusions.- 2 Environmental and organismic constraints.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Body form and locomotion.- 2.3 Respiration and gill structure.- 2.4 Sensory capacities.- 2.5 Summary and conclusions.- 3 Feeding.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Trophic categories in fishes.- 3.3 Morphological adaptations for feeding.- 3.4 Diet composition.- 3.5 Temporal changes in diet composition.- 3.6 Factors that determine the rate of food consumption.- 3.7 Flexibility in the feeding ecology of fishes.- 3.8 Summary and conclusions.- 4 Bioenergetics.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Structure of an energy budget.- 4.3 Effects of environmental factors on metabolism.- 4.4 Examples of energy budgets.- 4.5 Summary and conclusions.- 5 Use of time and space.- 5.1 Introducton.- 5.2 Methods of studying the use of time and space.- 5.3 Temporal patterns of fish movement.- 5.4 Patterns and movement and the use of space.- 5.5 Summary and conclusions.- 6 Growth.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Definition and measurement of growth.- 6.3 Patterns of growth.- 6.4 Factors affecting growth rates.- 6.5 Endogenous control of growth rates.- 6.6 Modelling the growth of fish.- 6.7 Summary and conclusions.- 7 Reproduction.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Timing of reproduction.- 7.3 The site of reproduction.- 7.4 Allocation of resources to reproduction.- 7.5 Allocation to individual progeny.- 7.6 Unusual reproductive strategies.- 7.7 Summary and conclusions.- 8 Biotic interactions: I. Predation and parasitism.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Predation.- 8.3 Pathogens.- 8.4 Summary and conclusions.- 9 Biotic interactions: II. Competition and mutualism.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2Competition.- 9.3 Mutualism.- 9.4 Summary and conclusions.- 10 Dynamics of population abundance and production.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Defining the population.- 10.3 Estimation of fish abundance.- 10.4 Measures of the rate of population change.- 10.5 Measurement of mortality rates.- 10.6 Patterns of mortality in fish populations.- 10.7 Regulation of fish populations and the stock-recruitment relationship.- 10.8 Models of population growth.- 10.9 Concept of production.- 10.10 Measurement of production.- 10.11 Bioenergetic basis of production.- 10.12 Magnitude of population production.- 10.13 Summary and conclusions.- 11 Life-history strategies.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Evolution of life-history patterns.- 11.3 Cost of reproduction and the consequences.- 11.4 Bioenergetics of life-history patterns.- 11.5 Phenotypic plasticity of life-history traits.- 11.6 Life-history patterns and exploitation.- 11.7 Summary and conclusions.- 12 Fish assemblages.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 General patterns of species diversity.- 12.3 Historical factors in species diversity.- 12.4 Contemporary determinants of species diversity.- 12.5 Examples of fish assemblages.- 12.6 Characteristics of fish assemblages.- 12.7 Community-wide properties.- 12.8 Summary and conclusions.- References.- Species Index.