Why are fish fish-shaped?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There are over 30,000 species of fish – that’s more than all the species of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals combined. But despite the sheer diversity of life on Earth, we still tend to think of all fish in roughly the same way: with an oblong scaley body, a tail and pairs of fins. Why? And is that really the case?

Crowdscience listener and pet fish-owner Lauria asked us to dive into the depths of this aquatic world to investigate why fish are shaped the way they are. Do we just think that fish are all the same because we are land-dwelling?

Presenter Anand Jagatia makes a splash exploring the fascinating story of fish evolution, how they came to be such a different shape from mammals and even how some mammals have evolved to be more like fish.

Produced by Hannah Fisher and presented by Anand Jagatia for the BBC World Service.

Contributors: Professor Frank Fish – Professor of Biology, West Chester University Dr Carla McCabe - Lecturer in Sport & Exercise Biomechanics Dr Andrew Knapp – postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum, London

Image: School of fish in shape of fish. Credit: Getty Images

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.4	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.3	A bomb whose creation would tip the scales of global power, a nuclear physicist who sought to
0:38.8	redress the balance.
0:40.9	The bomb, a podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:58.0	This is a show where we will go to great lengths to answer your science questions.
1:02.0	I'm Anan Jagatier and this week I'm doing
1:04.9	actual lengths in a swimming pool and that's because today's episode requires us to
1:09.7	look at things from a slightly different perspective underwater and it's because of this question for one of our
1:16.2	listeners. I'm Loria from Ottawa Canada and my question for crowd science is, why are fish all kind of shaped the same
1:26.3	compared to mammals that seem to have more diversity in the way that they're shaped?
1:30.3	So how would you describe the fish shape the kind of fish template?
1:35.0	Well they're kind of all bullet shape they don't have a neck they all have a variety of
1:39.4	fins they all have a tail fin and dorsal fin and the basic plan seems to be kind of all the same.
1:45.6	And why have you been thinking about the way that different fish are shaped? Do you have pet fish?
1:50.7	Yes, I have a fish tank that's kind of in the main living area of my house and so you know when we're sitting eating breakfast or something I'll stare at the fish and just kind of meditate on them. There's quite a variety like there's angel fish which are sort of
2:04.6	tall and thin they're kind of disc-shaped and then there's a long skinny one a
	...

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