Dictionary of Ichthyology
Brian W. Coad and Don E. McAllister†
T
T = Tertiary, a geological period of the Cenozoic Era ca. 65-16 million years ago comprising the Palaeocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene.
TR = Triassic, a geological period of the Mesozoic Era ca. 245-210 million years ago.
t = abbreviation for tonne (metric ton, 1000 kg, 2204.62 pounds (lb), 0.984 long tons, 1.102 short tons. Often spelled ton, confusingly).
t. = abbreviation for teste, meaning according to, on the evidence of.
t. = abbreviation for tomus, meaning volume.
t. c. = abbreviation for tomus citate, meaning in the volume cited.
t-cut = a cut in netting parallel to the general course of the netting. Also called mesh cut.
T-net = a type of intertidal and coastal stake-net used for salmon on the east coasts of Scotland and northeast England. The net is set across the outer end of a leader wall of netting thus forming a ‘T’ shape.
tab = any flap-like extension such as the opercular flap in Centrarchidae.
tab. = abbreviation for tabula, meaning table,
table fish = edible fish of some appropriate size.
table flake = a platform, about four feet above ground, used to spread and dry cod (Newfoundland).
tablemount = a seamount (q.v., (2) rising more than 500 fathoms from the sea floor and having a mostly smooth, flat top.
taboo word = certain words are not used by fishermen for superstitious reasons, e.g. names of fishes, and are replaced by other words. In Yorkshire, taboo words on trawlers include other words not associated with fishing, e.g. pig, egg, cat, knife, rat, clergyman, etc. Seems to refer both to the word not spoken and the replacement word.
tabular bone = extrascapula (a small bone bordering the posterior margin of the skull roof in primitive Teleostomi. These bones apparently originate from enlarged scales. One of a series of from 2-8 bones known variously as cervicals, nuchals, postparietals, scale bones or supratemporals. Often small and thin dermal bones on the nape or above the opercular membrane related to the supratemporal sensory canal).
tabulate = having a flat surface.
TAC = abbreviation for total allowable catch, the weight of fish of a given species or type caught by commercial fishing in any year. The TAC is set by a government in an effort to manage the resource. Pronounced by the initials, not like "tack".
TACC = abbreviation for total allowable commercial catch (total allowable catch)
tachener = takener.
tacked = said of a fishing-net caught in the bottom of a river (English dialect).
tackle = 1) the gear used by an angler or a commercial fisher to catch fish.
tackle = 2) to fish with a net (Newfoundland).
tackle = 3) to catch with fishing tackle.
tackle box = a box or bag designed to hold fishing gear, usually with a series of compartments. Some are made of wicker and large and sturdy enough to sit on for bank fishing.
tackle tart = slang for a rich angler.
tacksman = a lessee of coastal salmon fishings in Scotland.
tactile = relating to the sense of touch, e.g. said of barbels.
tae = a section of a deep-sea fishing line, having a specified number of hooks, generally 100 or 120, attached (Scottish dialect). Also spelled tie.
taeniform = elongate, compressed and deep-bodied, ribbon-like, e.g. ribbon fishes, oarfishes.
taft = pulling a fishing line up and down over the gunwhale to keep the bait in motion and attractive to fish (Scottish dialect).
tag = 1) any mark placed in or on a fish; may be a clipped fin, a numbered tag sewn on or punched into the fish, an electronic device, a hot or cold brand with letters and/or numbers, etc.
tag = 2) the act of applying a tag.
tag end = the working end of a line where the knot is tied.
tag loss = the proportion of fish in a tagging experiment that lose their tags. Fish can be doubled tagged so that recapture of such fish with only one tag can be compared to those caught with both tags.
tag o'skate = a slice of skate hung up to dry in the sun (Scottish dialect).
tag recovery = the ratio between the number of recovered tags and the total number of tags used on a given batch of fishes, usually given as a percentage.
tag return = tag recovery.
tagged fish = a fish bearing a tag.
tagging = attachment of numbered and addressed labels or tags, usually of plastic or metal, to a live fish which is then released and hopefully recaptured at a later date. Alternatively fins may be clipped in a marking system. Used to estimate growth, stock size, mortality and movement. Also called marking.
tagging mortality = death of fish occasioned by tagging through initial capture, handling and tagging and through long-term presence of a tag and its effects on a normal life style.
tail = 1) the part of the body posterior to the abdominal cavity, thus including the caudal peduncle and the tail fin.
tail = 2) the tail fin alone.
tail = 3) the length of line between the hook and a leger or paternoster.
tail = 4) to lift a fish by its tail. Also called tailing.
tail = 5) observation of fish in shallow water where the tail breaks the water. Also called tailing.
tail = 6) a stream section just after a pool and before the next rapids characterised by flat, slick and fast surface water.
tail = 7) the thin, tapered portion of fish fillet.
tail = 8) extension piece (tapered sections of netting between the belly and the batings and the cod end of a trawl. Also called pipe, swallow piece, tail piece, taper, Y-piece).
tail = 9) the southern extremity of a reef, sand bank or narrow, descending part of a fishing ground, e.g. the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. See also nose.
tail and fin rot = a bacterial disease of fish wherein the tail and fins are rotted away.
tail cloth = the bag at the rear of a fry-catching net.
tail end = tail cloth.
tail extension = in aquarium fishes, any lengthening of the lobe(s) of the caudal fin, e.g. swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri.
tail fin = the fin at the end of the body. Also called the caudal fin.
tail gland = a group of long, thick mucus cells at the tip of the tail of Heterocongridae which cements the sand of the walls of their burrows they fashion using their tails.
tail net = the herring net firsts set out or shot from the boat and thus the one farthest away.
tail out = the lower end of a pool where it becomes shallow.
tail piece = 1) extension piece (tapered sections of netting between the belly and the batings and the cod end of a trawl. Also called pipe, swallow piece, tail, taper, Y-piece).
tail piece = 2) tail cloth.
tail reticular cell = a cell lining the vascular channel network in the posterior and ventral tail, connecting the the caudal artery and vein. Serves for phagocytic cleaning of the blood.
tail ring = one of the dermal plates in members of the Syngnathidae forming a series of rings enclosing the body; tail rings run from the first behind the anus (it usually carries the anal fin).
tail rot = a bacterial infection seen in aquarium fish kept in poor conditions when an infection can be result from an injury. Tuberculosis can also lead to tail rot. Antibiotics in the food and water are used in treatment. See also fin rot.
tail spinner = compact, lead-bodied lure with one or two spinner blades attached to the tail and a treble hook suspended from the body. May have rattles. Also called lipless crankbait.
tail walking = a hooked game fish remaining mostly out of the water by rapidly moving its caudal fin from side to side at the water surface.
tail water = tailwater.
tail wrist = caudal peduncle (the wrist-like portion of the posterior part of the body between the end of the anal fin and the base of the caudal fin. Its length is measured between the insertion of the anal fin and the caudal flexure (the fold shown by the hind edge of the hypural plates when the caudal fin is flexed). Depth is measured vertically at the narrowest point).
tail-bud stage = an embryo with a prominent caudal bulge and marked cephalic development.
tail-free stage = an embryo with separation of the tail from the yolk.
tailing = 1) a method of handling a slippery fish by grasping it near the tail. Also called tail.
tailing = 2) observation of fish in shallow water where the tail breaks the water. Also called tail.
tailing glove = a glove used in tailing (1) made of a mesh of nylon, kevlar and stainless steel, originally for protection against knife cuts when filleting fish. The mesh facilitates grip through the slippery mucus but does not remove it as readily as dry hands.
tailing loop = a casting error with a fly rod causing a knot in the forward part of the tippet. Occurs when the rod tip dips under the straight line path, usually the result of a jerk forward at the end of the backcast. Also called wind knot.
tailrace = 1) the canal or channel that carries water away from a dam.
tailrace = 2) the area where separate currents join below an island.
tailspill = the area of a redd where excavated substrate is deposited, downstream of the redd.
tailwater = the area immediately below a dam where the river water is cooler than normal and rich in nutrients.
tailwater fishery = a fishery based on the tailwater area. Highly productive due to the relative constancy of environmental conditions and includes some of the world’s greatest fisheries.
taint = an odour, flavour or rancidity in fish acquired from its food, association with other objects or from storage rendering it unsuitable for marketing.
take = 1) the moment when a fish takes the bait or fly; usually when the hook should be set by jerking the rod or pulling on the line unless the fish species is one that first mouths the bait or draws it in and out before taking it fully into the mouth.
take = 2) disturbing, capturing, killing or attempting to kill fish.
take = 3) the act of landing a fish dead or alive or of bringing fish on board a vessel.
take = 4) a collective noun (a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit) for fishes.
take = 5) to prepare fish for curing or cooking.
take = 6) the amount of fish caught.
take the yarn = said of herrings when they strike the net.
take-out = the area where boats are taken out of the water.
takener = a young man employed on a fishing boat (Sussex dialect).
tal qual = talis qualis. Also all quall, tal squal and tol squoll.
tal squol = talis qualis.
talis qualis = Latin for just as they come, e.g. a whole catch of dried and salted cod sold without differentiation of quality or size (Newfoundland).
tally = an added herring to the warp (three fish), added to a retail amount of fish to make up for broken or damaged fish. See hundred and tally.
tally board = a plank or wooden table on which dried cod were placed for counting and grading (Newfoundland).
tally fish = a cod with unique colour markings on its back that resemble the slanted strokes made in keeping count. Tally fish were thought to presage a good catch (Newfoundland).
tally stick = a stick on which amounts of herring caught were registered in the Isle of Man. A notch was made for each basket of 124 fish and a cut across four notches indicated five baskets (620 fish). Theft of a tally stick by a rival crew took the boat's luck went with it, and it had to be recovered, if possible, by force or guile.
tallying = keeping a count or record of the number of fish caught or received by a merchant.
tambak = brackish water pond used for rearing herbivorous fishes in Indonesia.
Tancook whaler = a carvel vessel 28-40 feet long with a crew of two, moveable ballast, a shelter amidships but no crew accommodation. This was one of the vessels known as a double-ender because the stern was pointed. The Tancook Islands in Nova Scotia have no natural harbours and the boats had to be moored offshore year-round and capable of surviving rough weather. Could be rowed 5-6 miles or more to the fishing grounds in the morning in calm weather and sailed home. Used in Nova Scotia from the 1860s to the turn of the century for fishing trips of 2-3 days. Used in the spring mackerel run, and in handlining for cod, pollock and haddock, and sometimes in otter trawling.
tamlin-cod = a young cod fish (Cornish dialect).
tang = the Persian version of a canyon (a deep gorge with steep sides and often a stream, characteristic of arid and semi-arid regions).
tangle net = a bottom net attached to a headline much shorter than the length of the netting so that the net hangs in folds. Fish are gilled or more usually entangled.
tank = 1) a fish or water holding structure of varying size and construction material, from an aquarium to a large outdoor pond.
tank = 2) in a museum, a large rectangular container for storing fluid-preserved specimens. Usually of stainless steel as wood and plastic containers eventually deteriorate.
tank raised = fish bred and raised in a home or commercial aquarium.
tank salted fish = fish treated with salt in a watertight container so that the fish are cured in the pickle that is formed. Also called pickle cured fish and a variety of other names based on the container used and the pickle effect.
tanning = treating nets with some preservative (before modern materials were invented).
taper = 1) an area that slopes gradually and evenly towards deeper water.
taper = 2) extension piece (tapered sections of netting between the belly and the batings and the cod end of a trawl. Also called pipe, swallow piece, tail, tail piece, Y-piece).
tapered leader = a piece of line, 6-10 feet long, connecting the heavy fly line to the fly, tapering from thick (30-40 lb or 0.022-0.024 inches in diameter), where tied to the fly line, to very light at the fly. This last portion is called the tippet. Tapered line is needed as the main fly line is very thick and would be detected easily by the fish. Available in various configurations and strengths but since it is a continuous piece of manufactured line it is supposedly stronger than a series of discrete pieces of line tied together by knots.
tapered line = a fishing line that decreases in diameter towards both ends (double taper) or towards one end (weight forward).
tapetum lucidum = a silvery layer in the choroid of the eye (Elasmobranchii and some marine teleosts) or within the retina (some Cyprinidae, Percidae and many bathypelagic species). Formed of guanine. Probably acts to reflect light back through the retina to increase the stimulus.
taphonomy = the study of the processes of burial and fossilisation.
tapioca disease = a parasitic disease of Pacific salmon.
tar pot = a heavy iron vessel with heated preservative used on fishing gear (Newfoundland).
tarako = cod roe as served in a sushi restaurant.
tarama = fish roe (often Cyprinus carpio) mixed with salt, bread crumbs, white cheese, olive oil and lemon juice in Greece and Turkey to make taramasalata.
tarantello = belly strips of bluefin tuna cooked in brine and packed with olive oil in barrels or cans (Italy), cf. ventresca from albacore.
target = a long thin shred or slice of dried skate (Scottish dialect).
target board = a board which is placed behind a rod tip to shield it from the wind and to more easily spot movement of the tip when a fish bites.
target catch = the species, stock and size sought by a fishery. See also total catch.
target fish = a fish introduced into an aquarium to distract an aggressive breeding pair, venting their aggression so that spawning is successful.
target fishing = fishing for the primary purpose of catching a particular species or group of species.
target fishing capacity = the maximum amount of fish over a period of time (year, season) that can be produced by a fishing fleet if fully utilized while satisfying fishery management objectives designed to ensure sustainable fisheries. YT = Y (ET, S) in which YT is target yield or catch; ET is target effort generated by a fully-utilized fleet; and S is stock size (biomass). The fishing fleet is meant to be the stock of inputs, i.e. physical capital and human capital. The term fully-utilized is used in a precautionary context in that they assume that capacity utilization is 100%. The maximum catch that capital stocks could remove can be determined by observing them during a period with few restrictions.
target population = a population of fish about which information is desired, e.g. in sport fisheries.
target reference point = a state of a fishery and/or a resource which is considered desirable. Management maintains the fishery system at this level.
target species = the species sought by a fishery. There may be primary as well as secondary target species.
targeted catch = the object of a targeted fishery.
targeted fishery = a harvest strategy designed to catch a specific groups or species of fish.
tarn = a small mountain lake, often occupying a cirque or corrie (Viking). Also called corrie loch.
tarpon nursery = shallow, mostly stagnant pools free of fishes but favoured by young tarpon (Megalopidae).
tassel = strings of equal length at the end of a cord; used to describe the fins of Latimeria chalumnae.
tatami-iwashi = larval sardines or anchovies dried in a square frame, giving a product resembling a sheet of paper (Japan).
tategoi = juvenile ornamental carp or koi (q.v.) whose true adult pattern has yet to develop. This pattern can be difficult to spot and fish are often priced to reflect their future value.
taties-and-point = a dish of potatoes with a small piece of fish or meat, so small as to be merely pointed at.
tattie cruse = a potato scooped out, stuffed with fish liver and oatmeal, and roasted (Shetland Isles dialect).
tattooing = a means of marking fish for identification and mark-recovery studies by pricking the skin with a dye.
taum = a fishing line, especially one of horse-hair.
tautology = unnecessary repetition of a word or statement.
tautonym = one and the same name applied to both a genus and to an included species.
tautonymy = state of having the species or subspecies name identical to the generic name of the genus in which it is placed. Absolute tautonymy is the identical spelling of a generic or subgeneric name and the specific or subspecific name of one of its originally included nominal species or subspecies. Linnaean tautonymy is the identical spelling of a new generic or subgeneric name established before 1931 and a pre-1758 name cited as a synonym of only one of the species or subspecies originally included in that genus. Virtual tautonymy is the nearly identical spelling, or the same origin or meaning, of a generic or subgeneric name and the specific or subspecific name in a binomen or trinomen (not a term regulated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature).
tautotype = the primary type of the type species of a genus established by virtue of tautonymy.
taxa = plural of taxon.
-taxis (suffix) = arrangement of, directed response of a mobile organism.
taxidermy = the preparation of the skin of a fish (or other animals) in a life-like manner. The skin is stuffed and mounted, glass eyes used to replace the originals, and the skin may be painted and varnished.
taxis = a directed response or orientation of a motile organism towards (positive taxis) or away (negative taxis) from a stimulus.
taxocene = a taxonomically related set of species within a community; may be used for fishes. See ichthyocene.
taxon (plural taxa) = any taxonomic unit (named or not) or category such as a family, genus, or species. It includes all taxa of lower rank and all individual organisms. A nominal taxon is the taxon, as objectively defined by its type, to which any given name whether valid or invalid applies. Not necessarily monophyletic. A subordinate taxon is a taxon at a lower rank than the taxon of the same coordinate group with which it is compared. A taxonomic taxon, e.g. family, species, is a taxon including whatever nominal taxa and individuals a scientist at any time considers it to contain in his/her study. A zoological taxon is a natural taxon of animals which may or may not have had a name applied to it. An infrasubspecific taxon is one at a lower rank than that of subspecies (not regulated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature).
taxonomic authority = the author credited with the first description of a species or other taxon.
taxonomic file = an arrangement of a specimen database by taxonomic category, e.g. species, families.
taxonomic group = any taxon, including all subordinate taxa and their individuals.
taxonomic hierarchy = a hierarchical system of taxonomic categories arranged in an ascending series of ranks.
taxonomic list = a listing of the taxonomic categories and binomens in a taxonomic file.
taxonomic name = the scientific name, nomenclaturally, the word or words that constitute the scientific designation of a taxon.
taxonomic position = rank; the position of a taxon in a hierarchy of classification.
taxonomic species = Linnaean species (a broad concept of a species often comprising many varieties).
taxonomic system = a hierarchy of classification.
taxonomy = the study and practice of naming and classifying organisms.
taxon vagum = an uncertain taxon, occasionally used in names to indicate a taxon of uncertain rank.
TDS = total dissolved solids, a measure of water quality (the total residue remaining after evaporation of a water sample filtered to remove suspended matter larger than 1.0 mm; inorganic salts (principally calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides and sulfates) and small amounts of organic matter that are dissolved in water, not suspended like wood pulp particles).
tea cup fishing = a Japanese method for catching gobies and flounders using porcelain teacups, 20-25 cm across. The cups are stuck at an angle in the mud, providing shelter for fish, which are then caught by hand. The location of the cups is marked by an emergent plant.
tea fish = 1) capelin (Mallotus villosus), so-called in Newfoundland because they were supposed to make you sleepy after eating them and so were eaten at the evening meal.
tea fish = 2) salt fish or salt cod (Somerset dialect).
tea seed cake = a fish poison derived from the residue after oil extraction from the seeds of the tree Camellia oleifera or Camellia sinensis (Theaceae). The active ingredient contains 10-15% saponin. Used in Asia.
teaching collection = a collection of preserved specimens for use in classes. These have fewer restrictions on their use and handling than specimens in research collections, may not be catalogued or accessioned material, and may even be discarded when damaged and no longer of use.
teardrop = a dark mark below the eye in fishes in the shape of a drop.
technical creep = technological creep.
technical interaction = technological interaction.
technological creep = the continual increase in fishing power through scientific innovation, e.g. stronger twine for netting, fish location gear, etc.
technological interaction = an interaction between fisheries resulting from the impact of one fishery using a particular technology on another fishery, usually using a different technology but exploiting the same resources as target or bycatch. This is a major source of failure in TACs and quota management strategies for multispecies and multigear fisheries, e.g. the optimum minimum mesh size in a cod fishery is too large for optimum mesh selection of whiting which are a more slender and smaller species. Thus, too many large, marketable whiting could escape.
tectal = of or pertaining to the roof of a structure, e.g. the top of the head or brain.
tectospondylous = a type of vertebral centra (and arches) with several concentric ossifications instead of just one, extending to the chordacentrum, arcocentrum and autocentrum. Found in skates and rays.
TED = abbreviation for turtle excluder device (any device used to exclude turtles from nets where they may drown; a grid of bars fitted to the mouth of the net allows fish and shrimps to enter but deflects the larger turtles).
tee = an area on the stage (q.v.) head where splitting of cod took place (Newfoundland).
teesit = 1) the line first shot from a fishing boat (Scottish dialect).
teesit = 2) the man whose line is first shot from a fishing boat (Scottish dialect).
teind fish = a tithe levied on a fisherman (Scottish dialect). See also boat teind and fish teind.
teind skate = a skate paid as a tithe (Scottish dialect).
tekka = tuna served in a roll as in a sushi restaurant.
tela choroidea = the roof of the posterior fourth chamber of the medulla oblongata in the brain.
tele- (prefix) = beyond.
telencephalon = the anterior and dorsal forebrain, formed from a division of the prosencephalon. Includes the olfactory bulb. Details of the brain structure of a fish (Danio rero) may be found in Wullimann et al. (1996). See also brain.
teleotemporal = posttemporal (the superficial dermal bone connecting the pectoral girdle with the epiotic of the skull. Traversed by the posttemporal lateral line canal).
telephoning = monkeyfishing (using a home-made device to send a strong electrical current through the water, stunning fish which float to the surface and can be dip-netted. Illegal).
teleplanic = used for pelagic larvae that have a protracted planktonic existence, and therefore a capacity for wide dispersal.
telescopic eye = an elongate, cylindrical eye that protrudes forward or upward within an envelope of skin.
tell-tale shot = setting shot (a split shot used on float rigs. It is attached 15-20 cm away from the hook when that stretch of line is lying on the bottom. When a fish takes the bait, it lifts the shot off the bottom and the extra weight is transferred to the float which sinks to indicate the bite).
telmatophilous = thriving in swamps and marshes.
telmicolous = living in freshwater marshes.
telolecithal = eggs having a large portion of yolk at one end, e.g. Myxini, Elasmobranchii, Holocephali, and many Teleostei.
temaki-zushi = hand rolled cones of sushi rice, fish and vegetables wrapped in seaweed.
temperate region = ocean waters between the 13 and 20°C winter isotherms.
temperate waters = waters in the region of higher latitudes than tropical latitudes, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle in the northern hemisphere, and the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle in the southern hemisphere.
temperature coefficient = the quantitative increase or decrease in fish metabolic rate for each ten degree change in body or environmental temperature. Abbreviated as Q10.
temperature shock = physiological stress to a fish caused by a sudden or rapid temperature change. A change greater than three degrees an hour in some definitions.
tempering = softening of frozen fish without thawing by raising the temperature to -10 to -15°C, such that blocks of fish can be cut into fish fingers or other commercial products.
temporal = pertaining to the region just behind the eyes.
temporal closure = a temporary or seasonal ban on fishing.
temporal pore canal = the head canal over the temporal region.
temporary parasite = a parasite which visits the host at intervals.
temporary pool = a small, ephemeral water body, perhaps containing water for only a few months in each year. Inhabited by annual killifishes (Cyprinodontidae) that have abbreviated life spans and lay eggs resistant to drought.
tenaculum = a supplemental clasper in Holocephali, one in front of the pelvic fin (prepelvic tenaculum) and one on the forehead (cephalic tenaculum).
tender = a boat that supplies fishing vessels with supplies, and buys unprocessed fish from them for transport to shore or a mothership.
tenderloin = deep trunk muscles of fish extending from head to tail.
tenderometer = a machine that assesses the tenderness of fish by shearing flesh with metal plates and recording the resistance.
tendines = plural of tendon.
tendon (plural tendines) = a cord or band of white, fibrous connective tissue connecting a muscle to a bone and serving to transmit muscular force. Tendines is the plural in Latin but English usage has tendons.
tendril = a slender, curling barbel or other structure.
tendrilform = having the form or shape of a tendril.
tensor tripodis = a small muscle in certain catfishes with drumming muscles on the gas bladder, e.g. Pimelodidae. The tensor tripodis runs from the posterior surface of the neurocranium to the dorsal surface of the gas bladder near the tripus and is thought to reduce or stop vibrations of the tripus and so sound conduction to the inner ear. The fish can drum without deafening itself.
tentacle = 1) a short fleshy appendage, perhaps better termed cirrus.
tentacle = 2) the illicium, q.v., of an anglerfish, incorrectly.
tentaculum = a fibrous structure supporting the eye in Teleostomi corresponding to the optic pedicel, q.v., of Elasmobranchii.
tenter = a bar of wood fitted with hooks on which fish are hung to dry, hence tenter hooks (Scottish dialect).
tenter hooks = see tenter and tentering.
tentering = hanging fish by tenter hooks on tenter sticks. Tenter sticks are rods that are square in cross-section and carry hooks on each face.
tenuis stage = larval stage of Carapidae following the vexillifer stage, characterized by lack of the vexillum, thin body, the immense length of the cylindrical body and the relative smallness of the head (about 1/30 of total length of the body). The transparent tenuis larva is first benthic and free-living, then inhabits the cavity of a sea cucumber.
teratum = an injury from angling, predator attacks, boat propeller, collisions, etc.
teratological = abnormal, as in a malformed specimen.
teratology = the study of malformations.
terete = round in cross-section and tapering.
terminal = at the end. Said of the mouth when it is at the tip of the body rather than ventral or subterminal, or of embryos near the end of development.
terminal area = a fishery location where a targeted species or stock has separated from other species or stocks it was mixed with. Often a river mouth for migratory stocks and species.
terminal F = in a stock assessment, e.g. a virtual population analysis, refers to fishing mortality values in the last year for which data are available and on the oldest age class in each season.
terminal fisheries = fisheries near freshwater, usually the mouth of rivers or bays or near a hatchery release site, where the targeted species is returning to spawn.
terminal lake = a lake with no outlet.
terminal male = supermale, the dominant male, e.g. seen in members of the Labridae and Scaridae and characterised by a distinctive colour pattern. Also called terminal phase male.
terminal phase male = terminal male.
terminal tackle = the equipment at the end of a fishing line, such as hooks, lures, floats, bobbers, weights, swivels, sinkers, snaps, beads, leaders, etc.
terminal vertebrae = the last complete centrum of the vertebral column; not homologous across taxa because of varying fusions of preural and ural centra and so of little utility. Also called ultimate vertebra.
termination = the end or ending of a name, determined by the gender of the noun to which it is attached.
terminus = the end.
ternary name = trinomen.
terrace = a relatively-flat, horizontal, or gently inclined surface, sometimes long and narrow, which is bounded by a steeper ascending slope on one side and by a steeper descending slope on the opposite side.
terrestrial = flies tied to imitate land insects that fall on the water surface and are fed on by fishes, e.g. ants, beetles, grasshoppers.
terrine = a glazed, earthenware dish with vertical sides and a tight lid, often oval or oblong in shape. Food prepared in a terrine may be called by this term, and is usually finely chopped or ground, e.g. sturgeon terrine.
territorial = relating to the defence of an area in fish behaviour.
territorial waters = the area beyond the tidal base line of the open coasts of a country over which that country exercises full control except for innocent passage of foreign vessels. Set at a maximum of 12 nautical miles in breadth by the 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty. The United States claims territorial waters three nautical miles in width.
territory = area over which an animal establishes jurisdiction; the area is defended and no other individuals of the same species (and often of other species) are allowed inside.
Tertiary = a geological period of the Cenozoic Era ca. 65-16 million years ago comprising the Palaeocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene. Abbreviated as T.
tessellated = marked with little squares like a mosaic; checkered.
tesserae = the nonectodermal prismatic calcifications forming a major portion of the mineralized tissue in sharks. A tessera consists of one or more irregular layers of calcifications surrounding a radiating cluster of cells (easily seen on the prepared surface of a lower jaw).
test curve = time and weight needed to make a rod tip bend 90 degrees from the rod butt. A fast test curve means the rod bends quickly and easily and the rod is very soft as in match rods while a slow test curve is found in stiffer rods used to fight big fish. A match rod may have a three-quarter pound test curve while a carp rod has a 2.5 lb test curve.
test fish = a fish used for research purposes.
test fishing = fishing that attempts to obtain data about commercial stocks.
test trawl = a small trawl, e.g. in Louisiana not more than 16 feet along the corkline or 20 feet along the headline.
teste = according to, on the evidence of. Abbreviated as t.
testes = plural of testis.
testicular gland = a glandular tissue situated adjacent to the testis of Blenniidae and several species of Gobiidae. In Blennius pavo the spermatozoa cross the gland to reach the vas deferens and thus contact the gland cells. Structure and histochemistry indicate the gland has exocrine and endocrine functions. In Gobius niger the vas deferens is located between the testis and the testicular gland. Structure and histochemistry indicate its gland is exclusively endocrine.
testis (plural testes) = the male reproductive organ, producing sperm. The testes are found posterior to the stomach, below the swimbladder and dorsal to the intestine.
tetra- (prefix) = four, fourfold.
TetraMin = the trade name for the first major flake (q.v.) food used to feed aquarium fishes. Composed of four (tetra) different types of dry flakes with vitamins (min), this convenient form of fish food greatly facilitated the keeping of tropical fish in aquaria.
tetraodoic acid = a name of a product resulting from tetrodotoxin.
tetraodon poisoning = see tetrodotoxication.
tetraodontoxin = a substitute name conforming to the correct generic name Tetraodon. But tetraodontoxin has never found acceptance and has been discarded.
tetraploid = having a chromosome complement of 4n, twice the usual number of most organisms. Not uncommon in fishes.
tetrodonic acid = a term first proposed for an acid fraction of tetrodotoxin, later found not to exist. Later resurrected to apply to a tetrodotoxin with the empirical form C11 H19 O9 N3, and having the properties of an amino acid.
tetrodonin = first applied to one of two toxic substances isolated from puffer poison; then applied to a fraction later shown to be an impurity. Proposed empirical formula C11 H11 N9 O2.
tetrodopentose = a term proposed to designate an impurity believed to be a pentose, separated from a puffer poison; later identified as a mixture of a mesoinositol and scillitol.
tetronin = a term used to designate a nitrogenous base obtained from crude puffer poison. Thought to have the empirical formula C11 H11 N9 O2. Never clinically identified.
tetrodotoxication = poisoning caused by eating tetrodotoxic fishes. Symptoms usually develop 10-45 minutes after ingestion and include stiffness of lips and tongue, tingling of the extremities which changes to numbness, hypersalivation, sweating, extreme weakness, precordial pain, headache, subnormal temperature, decreased blood pressure and a rapid weak pulse. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and epigastric pain may appear. Respiratory distress, blueness of the skin, and extensive muscular paralysis ensue. The fatality rate is about 59%, death usually taking place between 6 and 24 hours. There is no known antidote and treatment is purely symptomatic. Emetics, laxatives and enemas have been found useful. Artificial respiration is the most important therapeutic measure and should be applied along with pentylenetrazol.
tetrodotoxic fishes = those fishes causing tetraodon or puffer poisoning, certain members of the tetraodontiform families Tetraodontidae, Diodontidae, Canthigasteridae, and possible the Molidae and Triodontidae. The toxicity of a species is often subject to variation from specimen to specimen and from one locality to another, some being harmless, others highly toxic. They are generally most toxic immediately preceding and during the height of gonadal activity. Female puffers are considerably more toxic then the male. The skin, liver, ovaries and intestines are the most toxic parts; the musculature is usually safer to eat than other parts but may be at times toxic. Immunity is not gained by repeated ingestion. The poison is not inactivated by cooking.
tetrodotoxin = the poison found in tetrodotoxic fishes; also called spheroidine, fugu toxin, or puffer poison (anhydrotetrodotoxin 4-epitetrodotoxin or tetrodonic acid). The empirical molecular formula is (C11 H17 N3 O8 HBr), a complex molecule. It is among the most toxic substances known among the non-proteins. It is a sodium channel blocker, preventing transmission of pain signals and is being examined as a non-addictive pain suppressor, 3000 times more powerful than morphine.
teuk trey = a Cambodian fish sauce similar to the Vietnamese nuoc-mam, q.v., but with the addition of ground peanuts.
Texas rig = a method of securing a hook to a soft bait so it does not become entangled in weeds. A slip sinker is threaded onto the line and a hook tied to the line end. The hook is inserted into the head of a worm, for example, and brought through until only the eye is in the worm. The hook is then rotated and the point embedded slightly into the worm without coming out on the opposite side.
texture = a commercial measure of firmness in fish to be marketed. Firm fish show significant resistance when pressed with the index finger or hand, slightly soft fish show some resistance and soft fish provide little resistance.
Thai fish sauce = a sauce made from salted and fermented fish. Also called fish gravy.
thalassic = pertaining to the sea.
thalasso- = prefix pertaining to marine or brackish waters.
thalassoid = having marine affinities.
thalassophilous = thriving in the sea.
thalassophobia = a fear of the sea or the ocean.
thalassoplankton = marine plankton.
thalweg = 1) the river centre, the part with the greatest flow and depth. Used to define international riverine borders.
thalweg = 2) the lowest thread along the axial part of a valley or stream channel.
thalweg = 3) a subsurface, ground-water stream percolating beneath and in the general direction of a surface stream course or valley.
thalweg profile = a longitudinal profile of a riverbed elevation measured along the deepest portion of the river. Gives useful information on fish habitat.
thanatocoenosis = an assemblage of organisms or their parts brought together after their deaths, e.g. fish bones by flowing water. See also death assemblage.
thaw drip = the liquid exuding from, and lost to the fish, during thawing.
theea = a Scottish term for a leister (a pronged and barbed fish spear, appearing in various cultures world-wide. In England, used for striking salmon by torchlight and now an illegal weapon. See also sun-leistering).
thecodont teeth = teeth rooted in a cavity, a rare condition in fishes, e.g. in Pristiophoridae and Pristidae.
thelytokous = reproduction that is exclusively female with no male contribution to the young.
there's as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it = a late sixteenth century English saying meaning another chance will come along.
therm- (prefix) = heat.
thermal guild = a group of unrelated fishes with similar temperature preferences, e.g. coldwater 4-15°C°C, coolwater 10-21°C and warmwater 15-27°C (note sources differ for temperature ranges in these categories presumably dependent on local temperature regimes).
thermal lag = the delayed heating and cooling of large bodies of water, such as the ocean and lakes, in relation to land conditions.
thermal layer = thermocline.
thermal refugium = a place that serves as a shelter from adverse temperatures, e.g. in a stream.
thermal mark = a ring in an otolith caused by a certain temperature regime during early incubation. Judicious use of temperature regimes and timing of them can cause a mark pattern specific to a hatchery and brood stock. The pattern will vary in the number and spacing of rings. The fish has to be killed later and the otolith extracted to retrieve the pattern and identify the fish.
thermal refugee = fishes found in cool springs, avoiding warmer conditions, e.g. Gulf of Mexico sturgeons found in rivers near artesian springs.
thermal spring = a spring with water 9.4°C above mean air temperature.
thermal stratification = temperature layers in a lake; the upper layer or epilimnion has a mostly uniform temperature, the next layer or thermocline shows a marked drop in temperature over a short distance, and the lowest layer or hypolimnion has a uniform temperature.
thermo- (prefix) = heat.
thermocline = the zone of rapidly changing temperature between the warm upper layer (epilimnion) and the lower cold layer (hypolimnion). Characterized by a temperature change of 1C° or more per metre.
thermohaline = pertaining to both temperature and salinity.
thermopegic = pertaining to hot water springs.
thermophilic = warm-loving. Opposite of psychrophilic and thermophobic.
thermophobic = intolerant of high temperatures.
thick = 1) numerous, in reference to fish and other animals.
thick = 2) a concentration of plankton in the upper layers of water obscuring a view of the bottom and favourable for fishing (Newfoundland).
thief net = a net suspended from the side of a herring fishing boat to catch any fish dropping from the main net.
thigmotaxis = orientation by tactile sense. Fish are often negatively thigmotaxic, avoiding touching each other or solid objects, although many are positively thigmotaxic, hiding under rocks or among plants for example.
thigmotropic = attracted to a solid body, e.g. said of fish favouring rocky habitats.
thin = 1) to pick out the bones from cooked fish. See also tin.
thin = 2) thinning.
thinning = in aquaculture, removing part of a stock from a pond to ensure better growth of the remainder.
thiomersal = sodium merthiolate (a disinfectant for living fish eggs. The sodium salt of ((o-Carboxyphenyl)thio)ethylmercury).
thirds = grade of dried and salted cod in Newfoundland, ranking in quality below merchantable and Madeira.
thirty second rule = after 30 seconds out of water trout have little chance of survival when released.
thohar = a fish poison made from the sap of Euphorbia rogleana, a cactus. Used in northern India.
tholichthys stage = postlarval stage of Chaetodontidae and Scatophagidae characterised by large bony plates extending onto the body from the head which is itself encased in bony armour and often by silvery colour. The tholichthys plates are lost during the juvenile stage.
thoracic = in the region of the thorax, anterior to the abdomen. Said of pelvic fins when located under the pectoral fin.
thoracic photophore = one of a line of light organs along the breast on either side of the midventral line in front of the pelvic fins in Myctophidae. Abbreviated PO.
thoracic vertebra = vertebrae with only a fused neural spine, e.g. in Archoplites interruptus (Centrarchidae)
thorn = a large spine or denticle on skates and rays.
thornlet = a small thorn.
thorow = killing a fish by choking and detaching the hook at the same time by inserting a stick in the throat and twirling it around (Scottish dialect).
thrash = a bundle of fish on a string made of plaited rushes (Scottish dialect).
thrasher = a length of chain, the noise of which drives fish into a net when shaken. See also dasher, douser and trouncer.
thread cell = a cell in the skin of Myxini which discharge coiled threads mixed with mucus.
thread-line fishing = angling, q.v.
threatened = a general term used to cover all taxa whose survival is uncertain.
three boat lift net = a coastal Japanese net measuring 60 by 70 m laid on or close to the bottom in a moderate current and lifted by the three boast when fish swim over the net. Used to catch sardines. See also two boat, four boat and eight boat lift nets.
three leg = an uncompleted mesh of a fish net, having three corner knots and one loose strand of twine (Newfoundland).
three-eyed fish = 1) a rare developmental anomaly seen in some embryos. Adult fish with three eyes are usually fakes, see three-eyed haddock.
three-eyed fish = 2) Blinky, a three-eyed fish making sporadic appearances on the The Simpsons television show; formed by mutation through radioactive wastes from a nuclear power plant and a sad commentary on how the three-eyed fish has changed from a simple joke on gullible tourists (see below).
three-eyed haddock = a normal haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) with an eye from another haddock carefully implanted above the gill opening on the side of the head. In the most extreme cases, this is done on a living fish which shows some healing over several months making this fake even more realistic.
three-mile limit = the limit of territorial waters claimed by many states although much wider limits are claimed for fisheries.
threepenny vomit = a serving of fish and chips in a restaurant (slang).
thresh = thrash.
threshold reference point = indicates that the state of a fishery and/or a resource is approaching a target reference point (TRP) or a limit reference point (LRP), and that a certain type of action (usually agreed beforehand) needs to be taken. Fairly similar to a LRP in their utility, the ThRp specific purpose is to provide an early warning, reducing further the risk the the LRP or TRP are inadvertently passed due to uncertainty in the available information or inherent inertia of the management and industry systems. Abbreviated as ThRP.
thrimble = to catch fish by clutching them in the hand.
throat = 1) the anterior ventral surface under the head.
throat = 2) the distance from the tip of the point to the bottom of the hook bend in a fishing hook, q.v.
throat = 3) to cut the throat of a fish and slit the belly open from gills to vent.
throat line = a longline used for catching cod. Also called thrott line.
throat teeth = pharyngeal teeth (teeth on the pharyngeal bones. May be placed in a dorsal and ventral pair, as in most teleost fishes, or in laterally opposing pairs, one set on each side, as in Cyprinidae and Catostomidae. The upper pharyngeal teeth are located on a dentigerous plate on the fourth pharyngobranchials and the lower pharyngeal teeth on the dentigerous plate on the fifth ceratobranchials. The pharyngeal teeth of minnows and suckers are processes on the dentigerous plate of the fifth ceratobranchials and are thus homologous to the lower pharyngeal teeth of other fishes; these oppose a prominent horny pad which rests on a projection from the basioccipital).
throater = a fish processor who slit open the throat and belly (Canada).
thrott line = throat line.
through-action rod = a fishing rod that bends throughout its length in a progressive fashion.
throw = a collective noun (a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit) for fishes.
throw a sprat to catch a herring (or whale) = to forego an advantage in hope of greater profit.
throw away one's grapnel = lowering an anchor with float attached to indicate occupancy of a particular fishing ground (Newfoundland). See also douse the killick.
throw back = bass (Micropterus spp., Centrarchidae) too short to meet tournament standards; usually less than 14 inches (ca. 36 cm). Also called baby, dink, nubbin, pop corn, and slick.
throw net = castnet (a method of catching fish in shallow waters by throwing a circular net over them; the net opens in the air to a diameter of about 2 metres and sinks rapidly because of weights attached to its margin. The rim of the net has a draw rope that enables it to be closed. Also called trow net).
throw out = to place split and salted cod on a flake (q.v.), and turn it at intervals to dry by exposure to sun and wind (Newfoundland).
ThRP = threshold reference point (indicates that the state of a fishery and/or a resource is approaching a target reference point (TRP) or a limit reference point (LRP), and that a certain type of action (usually agreed beforehand) needs to be taken. Fairly similar to a LRP in their utility, the ThRp specific purpose is to provide an early warning, reducing further the risk the the LRP or TRP are inadvertently passed due to uncertainty in the available information or inherent inertia of the management and industry systems).
thumb knot = a knot used by anglers for attaching hooks and rings to heavy line. Various websites have animated steps showing how to tie this knot.
thunniform = a form of swimming in fish involving very little body bending, thrust being generated by the tail powered by the myotome. Named for Thunnus. See also anguilliform, carangiform, labriform, ostraciform.
thymol = a volatile, crystalline chemical with anti-fungal properties often added to cleared and stained preparations of fish skeletons stored in glycerol.
thymus = a series of glands along the dorsal angles of the gill pouches (from which they originate). Supposedly an endocrine gland.
thyroid gland = the endocrine glands controlling growth located around the ventral aorta in the branchial region, around the eye, hepatic veins and anterior kidney in fishes. Because of this wide distribution, may be mistaken for tumours.
tibbet = tippet.
tickle = a narrow and dangerous strait (Newfoundland).
tickler chain = a heavy chain across the mouth of a trawl in front of the groundrope to disturb flatfish, causing them to swim up off the sea floor and be caught in the trawl.
tickling = a technique of catching fish by hand. The fish, often hiding under a stream bank, must be approached stealthily, gently rubbed or "tickled" on its belly until the hand can be advanced near enough to the head to ensure a firm grasp in the gill openings so it can be pulled from the water. Akin to hogging and noodling, q.v, but perhaps more refined.
tidal = the adjective for tide.
tidal bore = bore (1) a rapid tidal rise in a river that forms an advancing wall of water. Also called eagre).
tidal circulation = the movement of fresh water and sea water as they are mixed by ocean tides.
tidal current = the alternating horizontal movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tide. Often called the tide.
tidal datum = reference plane (the plane to which sounding and tidal data are referred).
tidal day = lunar day (in describing tides, the time of rotation of the Earth with respect to the moon, or the interval between two successive upper transits of the moon over the meridian of a place. The mean lunar day is approximately 24.84 solar hours in length).
tidal delta = a delta formed at both sides of a tidal inlet.
tidal fishery = the fishery made when a tide recedes, leaving fish in pools. This natural event may be aided by digging pits, diversion channels, dams, etc. See also flood fishery.
tidal flat = a muddy area usually bordering an estuary, exposed by tides.
tidal gut = 1) a narrow channel.
tidal gut = 2) an elongated rock pool open to the sea at one end.
tidal inlet = a waterway from the open ocean into a lagoon.
tidal marsh = a low, flat area comprising bushes and grasses interspersed with channels and under tidal influence.
tidal period = the time it takes for one tidal cycle.
tidal pool = a pool of water remaining on a beach or reef after the tide recedes.
tidal prism = 1) the total amount of water that flows into or out of a harbour with the tide.
tidal prism = 2) the volume of water present between mean low and mean high tide.
tidal range = the difference in height between consecutive high and low (or higher high and lower low) waters.
tidal rise = the height of tide as referred to the datum of a chart.
tidal rotary current = a tidal current that flows continually with the direction of flow changing all around the compass during the tidal period. Generally found offshore where there are no barriers. The cause is the earth's rotation and so is clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
tidal stand = an interval at high or low water where there is no observable change in the height of the tide.
tidal stream = tidal current (Britain).
tidal wave = 1) any wave produced by tides and tidal currents.
tidal wave = 2) a storm surge or tsunami, highly destructive. A non-technical term.
tidal wetland = a coastal area that is inundated by tides.
tidal zone = the area along the coast influenced by the rise and fall of tides.
tidbit = 1) bite (a small piece of fish breaded or coated with batter, weighing less than 1 oz. Of various shapes such as round, square, or irregular. May be cut from regular blocks or blocks of minced fish. Generally sold by count, 25-35 per lb. Also called cubes, nuggets, and petites).
tidbit = gaffel bitar (semi-preserved fat herring, gilled or headless, with 10-12% salt and sometimes benzoic acid added. The product is ripened in barrels at moderate temperature, then filleted, skinned and cut into 'tidbit' pieces, packed with spiced brine, and also with vinegar or with sauces in cans or glass jars. Also called herring tidbits or fork tidbits).
tiddler = a small fish.
tide = 1) the periodic rise and fall of ocean water produced by gravitational effects of the moon and sun on the earth. The horizontal movement of water caused by this vertical movement is often called the tide, but correctly is the tidal current.
tide = 2) the quantity of fish taken ashore at one time (British dialect).
tide = 3) a net which traps fish by the falling tide (Scottish dialect). See also tide net.
tide = 4) a good catch of fish.
tide gage = a device for measuring the rise and fall, and the current height, of the tide.
tide level = the height of the tide above a specified level.
tide net = a fixed net filled by the tide and stranding fish as the tide ebbs.
tide pool = an area in the littoral zone that retains sea water at a low tide because of a depression or arrangement of rocky substrate; a year-round habitat for certain fishes and a spawning site for others.
tide race = a very rapid tidal current in a narrow channel.
tide staff = a fixed gage comprised of a vertical, graduated staff from which the tide height can be read.
tide station = the place where tidal observations are made.
tide stick = a wooden device placed on side of a dory and used to guide the hauling in of a trawl line (Newfoundland).
tide tables = published tables giving daily predictions of the times and heights of tides.
tideland = the zone between the mean high water and mean low water lines, identical with the intertidal zone (technical definition) when the type of tide is semidiurnal or diurnal.
tidewater = 1) water affected by tides.
tidewater = 2) an area of water affected by tides and the surrounding land.
tidewater = 3) areas always covered by tidal waters, cf. tideland.
tideway = a channel through which a tidal current flows.
tidy = a Newfoundland adjective for a tidal area subject to the turbulence of currents and the ebb and flow of the tide; in reference to the fishery.
tie = tae.
tie into = hooking a big fish.
tie-tail = a herring with the gill region broken and so cannot be hung by their head therefore are tied on to the spits by their tails.
tierce = a wooden container of designated size for the export of fish; was an old measure of 42 gallons (Newfoundland).
tiger = a hybrid of brown trout (Salmo trutta) and male brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis).
tight lines = angler's salutation.
tight pack = alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) gutted and cured in strong brine and packed in barrels with dry salt. Also called Virginia cure, hard cure and pickled alewives (Canada).
tight work = a waterproof construction for barrels used in shipping pickled fish.
tight-action plug = a lure with short, rapid side-to-side movements.
tilapia = both a genus of cichlid fishes and a general term for several of the larger species used in aquaculture.
Tilly bone = an unusually thickened bone which may occur in the axial or cranial skeleton of some fishes, e.g. thickenings of haemal and neural spines, postcleithra and anterior cranium in Lagocephalus. Named for Tilly Edinger of Harvard who studied these structures. Being larger and denser than usual bones, they are often found concentrated on beaches and in middens and, when rounded by wear and wave action, tend to look very unfish-like. Also called hyperostosis, q.v.
tilt = tip-up.
tilt fishing = use of a tip-up.
time closure = a period of time when no fishing is allowed.
timmy noggy = tommy noggin.
timnodonic acid = an omega-3-fatty acid, q.v., found in fish oil; its chemical name is all-cis-5,8,11,14,17-icosapentaenoic acid. Said to reduce the risk of heart attacks in humans when ingested at 1800 mg per day. Also called eicosapentaenoic acid or icosapentaenoic acid and timnodonic acid.
tin = to pick bones out of boiled fish heads, saving the fleshy parts. See also thin.
tin fish = slang for a torpedo.
tinabal = a fish product similar to bagoong (q.v.)(Philippines).
tinapa = herring-like fish, whole or gutted, dipped fresh into boiling brine and then smoked (Philippines).
Tincomarus = a king of the Atrebates of south-central Britain shortly before the Roman invasion. The name is translated as "big fish".
tino (noun) = 1) a skewer or spit for fish when drying (Orkney dialect).
tino (verb) = 2) to spit a fish on a tino (Orkney dialect).
tinsel = metal filaments used in fly tying to provide colour and flash.
tip length = the distance from the snout to the tip of the tail.
tip ring = tiptop.
tip section = the top section of a fly rod, smallest in diameter.
tip the fin = to shake hands (from the slang, fin, for hand).
tip-action rod = a fishing rod that bends at the tip and middle sections.
tip-top = the guide at the end of a fishing rod.
tip-up = a device used in ice fishing. A short rod with the line attached pivots on a short stick sunk into the snow; the end opposite the line attachment tips up when the line is pulled by a fish (and may have a flag). Modern tip-ups are often more complex; some have a light to indicate a bite in the dark, others automatically jig the bait and some have underwater reels. Also called tilt.
Tip-Up Town, USA = Houghton Lake in Michigan where up to 40,000 people can gather for ice fishing, snowmobiling, snow sculpting and fireworks.
tiphic = pertaining to ponds.
tiphicolous = living in ponds.
tiphiphilous = thriving in ponds.
tippen = tippet (1).
tippet = 1) a length of twisted hair or gut in a fish line (Scottish). Also spelled tippen and tibbet.
tippet = 2) the very end of a tapered leader that attaches to the fly in fly-fishing. It is the same diameter along its length and ranges from 7X (very fine) to 0X (very heavy).
tippet = 3) breast and neck feathers of the golden pheasant used in tying artificial flies.
tippet stone = a circular stone with a hook in the centre used in twisting tippets (1).
tippit = tippet (1).
tiptop = line guide at the tip of a fishing rod. Called tip ring in Britain.
tire reef = fish habitat made from old vehicle tires weighted to keep them in place.
tirmal = a fish poison made form the seeds of the toothache tree, Xanthoxylum alatum (Rutaceae) (India).
titling = a small stock fish (Scottish dialect)
titmuck = an Inuit delicacy of fish such as salmon, buried in a hole and left to ripen.
T-net = a coastal or intertidal salmon net in Scotland and England with the trap set across the outer end of a leader of netting thus forming a T shape.
TL = abbreviation for total length.
TMA = abbreviation for trimethylamine; see trimethylamine oxide.
Tmax = abbreviation for lifespan (the maximum expected age, on average, for a species, cohort, stock, or a population in the absence of fishing. Smaller than maximum age although may be used in this sense. Abbreviated as Tmax in stock assessment models).
Tmin = the minimum time required to rebuild an overfished stock. Usually the minimum time in which a stock will have a 50% chance of rebuilding if no fishing occurs.
to the gills = completely, as full as possible.
to throw a sprat to catch a mackerel = a tradesman selling one article cheaply to attract more custom.
tobiko = the red and crunchy eggs of flying fish used as a food in Japan.
Tobias' fish = Tobit's fish.
Tobit's fish = the Book of Tobit in the Apocrypha tells of Tobit, who was blinded by sparrow dung while sleeping in a courtyard. The archangel Raphael told Tobit's son to catch a huge fish in the Tigris River and apply its gall to Tobit's eyes to cure his blindness. The fish was probably Barbus esocinus, a large member of the Cyprinidae.
tod = a small number of dried and salted cod piled on a flake (q.v.) (Newfoundland).
toe-biter = fish-killer (an aquatic insect of the family Belostomatidae, e.g. Lethocercus americanus, which feeds on small fishes).
tofu-fish = an unusual culinary concoction made by adding live weatherfish (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, Cobitidae) to a pot of tofu and water. The pot is heated and the weatherfish buries itself in the tofu, mistaking it for mud, and is cooked along with the tofu.
toggling harpoon = a harpoon with a detachable head which twists or toggles when plunged into a fish.
tôkan-hin = a fish product dried after removing water by repeated freezing and thawing (Japan).
tol squoll = talis squalis.
tolerance limit = a 24 hour TL50 is the concentration of a chemical which kills (or effects in other specified ways) 50% of fish in 24 hours.
toll = to draw, allure or entice. Used in older fishing texts to indicate that fish are being attracted in some fashion, e.g. by scattering bait.
tom = a branch line with a hook, attached to a main line. Also called gangen and stangeon.
tom. = abbreviation for tomus.
tom. cit. = tomus citatus.
tomcod = 1) Microgadus tomcod (Gadidae).
tomcod = 2) a grade or cull of dried and salted cod (Gadus morhua).
tomcod = 3) a young cod (Gadus morhua).
tommy noggin = a frame of a weighing device on which dried cod are placed (Newfoundland).
tommy nogger = tommy noggin.
tomus = volume. Abbreviation tom., t.
tomus citatus = in the volume cited, used to avoid repeating the full citation. Abbreviation tom. cit.
ton = a measure of weight in Britain equal to 1016.05 kg (this is the long ton; the short ton of North America is equal to 907.184 kg).
ton, metric = 1000 kg, 2204.62 lb, 0.984 long ton, 1.102 short ton. Strictly the metric ton should be spelled tonne but often appears in international literature and seafood sales as ton.
ton (short) of water per 24 h = 37.8 L/h or 9.986 gal/h.
toneles = tons (Spanish), sometimes used in old fisheries texts.
tongs = ridged metal tongs with long wooden handles used to pick up slimy, slippery and muscular eels.
tongue = 1) long-handled tongues used for catching fish or for holding slippery or dangerous fish such as moray eels.
tongue = 2) a structure in the mouth of fish sometimes bearing teeth; used to manipulate food.
tongue = 3) a long narrow strip of land projecting into a body of water.
tongue twisters:-
1 = riba ribi grize rep (the fish bites the fish's tail) (Bosnia).
2 = Fisherman Fritze fishes fresh fish, fresh fish does fisherman Fritze fish (Germany).
3 = Fischers Fritze fischt frische Fische; Frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritze (Fisher's errand boy is fishing fresh fish, fresh fish are fished by Fisher's errand boy) (Germany).
4 = Threadbare Fred feeds on fried fresh fish, fish fried fresh, fresh fried fish, fresh fish fried, and fish fresh fried, does threadbare Fred.
5 = I often sit and think and fish and sit and fish and think and sit and fish and think and wish that I could get a cool drink!
6 = Mrs. Smith's Fish Sauce Shop.
7 = Freshly-fried flying fish.
8 = There was a young fisher named Fischer,
Who fished for a fish in a fissure,
The fish with a grin,
Pulled the fisherman in,
Now they're fishing the fissure for Fischer.
9 = Five fat friars frying flat fish.
10 = Five frantic frogs fled from fifty fierce fishes.
11 = Fran feeds fish fresh fish food.
12 = Finicky feline feasts on fried fresh fish fin.
13 = I wish she were a fish in my dish.
14 = This fish has a thin fin. That fish has a fat fin. This fish is a fish that has a thinner fin than that fish.
15 = She saw a fish on the seashore and I'm sure the fish she saw on the seashore was a saw-fish.
16 = The fishy fish went swishy swish swish,
As it swam along the shore,
It had two baby fishes,
That would fit in two dishes,
And who could ask for more?
tonic immobility = cessation of movement in response to a threat, e.g. sharks will remain motionless for about 15 minutes if flipped over (don't try this at home).
tonnara = madrague (an anchored pound net used for tuna in the Mediterranean Sea).
tonne = metric ton, 1000 kg, 2204.62 pounds (lb), 0.984 long tons, 1.102 short tons. Often spelled ton, confusingly, but most modern tons outside North America will be metric tonnes.
tonno = canned tuna in olive oil, heavily salted.
took = a twitch or pull, as at a fishing line (Scottish dialect).
toot = a line for deep-sea fishing (Scottish dialect).
toot net = an anchored net extending from a beach into the water or to an anchored boat. It is hauled in a when a fish strikes the net (Scottish dialect). Also called hang-and-toot net or toot-and-haul net.
toot's-man = the man who gave directions for the hauling of the toot net when he sees the fish enter it (Scottish dialect).
toot-and-haul net = toot net.
tooth file = in sharks, the line of functional and replacement teeth of different ages in a labial-lingual direction. The row is derived from a single germinal area usually at approximately right angles to the jaw cartilage. Same as mis-named tooth row (2). See also diagonal file.
tooth plate = a flattened structure bearing teeth or a type of tooth which is the form of a flattened plate, e.g. in chimaeras and hagfishes.
tooth row = 1) teeth in a mesial-distal line across the jaw in sharks and of the same age; not the same as (2) which strictly is called a file of teeth.
tooth row = 2) in sharks, the line of functional and replacement teeth of different ages. The row is derived from a single germinal area usually at approximately right angles to the jaw cartilage.
tooth series = in sharks, the line of teeth parallel to the jaw axis, comprising several different rows.
toothache tree poison = tirmal (a fish poison made form the seeds of the toothache tree, Xanthoxylum alatum (Rutaceae)(India)).
tootsman = a watcher who observes movements of fish in a river (see toot net).
top belly = the portion of webbing that forms the lower body of a trawl from the foot rope to the fore part of the throat or cod end.
top line = headline (the upper rope of a net to which the net is attached and to which floats are generally attached in such nets as seines and trawls).
top linnet = upper part of a cod trap.
top mop = a tightly tied mass of synthetic yarn in various configurations with cork or styrofoam used as a spawning medium in aquaria for fish that normally lay eggs on vegetation. The floating mop is used for species that spawn at or near the water surface or high in the water column. Also called floating mop.
top panel = all sections of net in the upper part of a trawl.
top rope = headline (the upper rope of a net to which the net is attached and to which floats are generally attached in such nets as seines and trawls).
top wedge = that part of the netting in a trawl that comes above the belly.
top-and-bottom float = in angling, a float attached to the line at both the top and the bottom.
top-side chafer = netting meant to protect the top or side panels of the codend from wear should the rear end of the trawl twist along its axis during fishing. May be illegal as they inhibit net selection.
tope = 1) Galeorhinus galeus (Triakidae).
tope = 2) to drink alcohol in large quantities continuously.
tope = 3) a dome-shaped monument built by Buddhists.
topless = it is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool, England, unless she happens to be a clerk in a tropical fish shop.
toponym = a scientific name based on a locality or the place-name itself.
topotype = a specimen collected at the type locality but not necessarily part of the type series.
topotypical population = population occurring at the type locality from which the type specimen was taken.
topwater = 1) a floating hard bait that creates some surface disturbance when retrieved.
topwater = 2) any lure designed to be fished at the surface.
topwater crankbait = an imitation fish or plug designed to dive when retrieved slowly.
topwater lure = a lure that floats and is used to catch fish at the surface.
topwater popper = topwater lure.
torch fishing = torching.
torch net = a fixed net into which fish are led by a boat carrying torches or electric lights.
torch-and-dip = torching.
torching = attracting fish at night by means of a light so they may be easily netted or speared.
tori line= the line from a tori pole.
tori pole = a pole with a main line from which streamers are hung at regular intervals to scare away seabirds from baits attached to a pelagic longline.
tornbelly = a herring with its belly torn open.
toro = the fatty tuna belly prized in sushi/sashimi (Japanese).
torpedoform = the typical body form of most fishes.
torpid = inactive, unresponsive, e.g. in aestivation or hibernation.
torquette = a piece of netting fixed inside the rear of the codend to improve its closing by the codline.
torrent = a swift stream of water, inhabited by specially adapted fishes.
torrenticole = living in torrents.
torus semicirculari = enlargements of the posterior floor of each optic ventricle separated by the valvuli cerebelli, q.v.
total allowable catch = the weight of fish of a given species or type caught by commercial fishing in any year or season. TACs are set by governments to regulate the fishery and manage the resource. Abbreviated as TAC. Sometimes called TACC or total allowable commercial catch.
total allowable commercial catch = total allowable catch. Abbreviated as TACC.
total catch = all the fish taken by fishing gear and hauled on board a vessel. Discards are those fish thrown away, the remainder is the landed catch or retained catch. The landed catch can be divided into the target catch and the incidental catch. Species may be shift between these categories depending on such factors as size, popularity, season, etc.
total dissolved solids = a measure of water quality, the total residue remaining after evaporation of a water sample filtered to remove suspended matter larger than 1.0 mm; inorganic salts (principally calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides and sulfates) and small amounts of organic matter that are dissolved in water, not suspended like wood pulp particles. Abbreviated as TDS.
total hardness = a measure of the total amount of magnesium and calcium salts dissolved in water including carbonates and non-carbonates.
total length = the greatest length of the whole body between the most anterior point of the body and the most posterior point, in a straight line, not over the curve of the body. Sometimes, when there are two equal lobes, the caudal rays are squeezed together and their tip is taken as the most posterior point, or the longest lobe is squeezed to the midline (maximum length or extreme tip length). Also an imaginary line may be drawn between the two lobe tips and length to its mid-point taken as the most posterior point (total auxiliary length or bilobular length). Usually the tip of the most posterior lobe of the fin in normal position is taken as the posteriormost point (total normal length or natural tip length). Total length is used in Amphioxi, Myxini, Petromyzontiformes, usually in Elasmobranchii and sometimes in other fishes. Standard length, q.v., is usually employed with Teleostei. Abbreviated TL.
total mortality = mortality attributed to both fishing and natural causes.
total mortality rate = the number of fish which die during a year or season, divided by the initial number. Also called actual mortality rate, coefficient of mortality. Abbreviated as Z.
total production = production (the total elaboration of new body substance in a stock in a unit if time, irrespective of whether or not it survives to the end of that time. Also called net production).
total productivity = in an aquaculture pond, the natural productivity plus that due to fertilisation and artificial feeding.
total shotting capacity = the amount of weight needed to set a float so only the tip is showing.
total spawners = synchronous development of eggs and sperm in a spawning population with all sex products released over a short period of time, a week or so.
tournament = a fishing competition.
tow = to pull a fishing net such as a trawl. See towed net.
tow dragging = a type of Danish seining.
tow-blowen = a blown herring.
towed net = any net which is pulled through the water, the water draining through the meshes but the fish being retained.
towfish = an instrument, e.g. a side scan sonar, towed behind a ship.
towing chain = chain bracket (a chain used on an otter board in pace of a bracket. Also called angle iron chain, back board chain, board chain, chain triangle).
towing engine = a winch with one or more rope storage drums for paying out, hauling in or making fast tow ropes of a trawl.
towing warp = the heavy cable used to tow trawls, seines, etc. May be up to 2 km long on large trawlers.
towing winch = towing engine.
township = a division of land comprising 36 sections or 46 square miles; may be used as part of the collection information indicating where the specimens were caught.
toxaphene = an insecticide that has been used to kill unwanted fish in ponds and lakes. Possibly carcinogenic and now banned for general use.
toxic = poisonous.
toxin = a poisonous chemical secreted by an organism. Many fish toxins are neurotoxins and particularly dangerous, and there are some hepatotoxins.
toxactinium = a long curved projection from the anterior end of the priapium (q.v.) in some Phallostethidae.
TP = abbreviation for terminal phase in diandric fishes possessing two different types of males, a large, brightly-coloured and aggressive terminal phase (TP) and a smaller, drab and relatively non-aggressive initial phase (IP), e.g. in Thalassoma lunare (Labridae). The TP has priority access to food and spawning females. On the death or removal of a TP, the first-ranking IP becomes the next TP (after first checking the reef thoroughly to make sure the TP is gone).
tr. = transverse row of scales, diagonal scale row (the almost vertical rows of scales slanting backwards and downwards across the sides of the body. Divided into scales above the lateral line starting at the front of the dorsal fin (from, but not including, the scale in the middorsal row, to but not including, the lateral line scales) and below the lateral line similarly ending at the front of the anal fin. The number of transverse rows themselves along the body may also be counted).
trabecula (plural trabeculae) = an embryonic cartilaginous rod, one lying on either side of the anterior brain in front of the notochord and helping form the skull. The separation of the trabeculae has consequences for the eyeball size and brain during development.
trabeculae = plural of trabecula.
trabecular = spongy, e.g. spongy bone.
trace = the British term for a leader (wire or strong monofilament line between the hook and main line as a protection against teeth or rough substrates, or weaker line to ensure that a large fish does not break off a long length of line which can entangle and kill it).
tracing predator = see tracking predator.
track = 1) a line on a map connecting disjunct populations of a species.
track = 2) a line on a map connecting disjunct species of a monophyletic group.
tracking predator = a predator intermediate between an ambush and a pursuing predator, searching slowly for food and taking prey that is not a strong swimmer or is inactive, such as at night, e.g. lepidophagous fish, eels feeding at night, archer fish, mormyrids.
tract = 1) an expanse of land or water.
tract = 2) a system of organs and tissues that together perform a special function, e.g. digestive or alimentary tract.
tract = 3) a stretch or lapse of time (archaic).
tradable permit = a fishery resource that can be exchanged through a free or controlled permit market.
trade-off = balancing of factors not achievable at the same time, e.g. maximum economic yield and maximum sustainable yield.
trader = 1) a vessel owner who purchases fish from fishermen in exchange for cash or supplies, operating outside the established merchant system (Newfoundland).
trader = 2) the vessel engaged in collecting fish from fishermen and in carrying supplies (Newfoundland).
trading = collecting fish from settlements in exchange for cash and supplies outside the established merchant system in Newfoundland.
traditional fishing zone = an area of water where a group of people living nearby traditionally fish on a subsistence basis.
tragedy of the commons = the decline or loss of a common property natural resource through continued exploitation after the maximum sustainable yield has been reached. Unhappily true of many fisheries where no one "owns" them and so no one has a vested interest in preserving them.
trail = 1) a wooden spreader used at the leading end of the wing of a trawl or seine to keep the net spread vertically.
TRAIL = 2) abbreviation for Transgenerational Isotope Labelling.
trailer = 1) the hook at the end of the line in fly-fishing (Scottish dialect). Also called end fly.
trailer = 2) any item attached to the rear hook of a lure to add attraction or bulk, e.g. a rubber grub.
trailer hook = trailing hook.
trailing = 1) trawling.
trailing = 2) trolling a fishing line (or trolling line) behind a moving boat. In commercial fisheries a speed of 2-10 knots is used to catch tunas and their relatives.
trailing edge = any rear part of a fish structure. Opposite of leading edge.
trailing gut = an extension of the intestine that trails behind larval oviparous fishes and is used for absorption of nutrients, e.g. in melanostomiatids, the argentinid Microstoma microstoma.
trailing hook = an extra hook added to a single-hook lure. Also called cheater hook.
trailing mop = a tightly tied mass of synthetic yarn in various configurations with cork or styrofoam used as a spawning medium in aquaria for fish that normally lay eggs on vegetation. The trailing mop is used for species that spawn at all water levels and is a mix of top and bottom mops, reaching from the surface to trail along the bottom.
trailing shuck = a section of synthetic yarn tied to the back of an artificial fly to imitate the shedding case of an insect.
train house = a structure on a fishing premises in which cod livers (and seal and whale blubber) are rendered.
train oil = unrefined cod liver oil (and also the oil from seal and whale blubber). Used in candles and lamps and, mixed with powdered red ochre, as a paint for fish sheds and barns.
traine oil = train oil.
training wall = a wall or jetty to direct current flow.
trains = lines of sunken herring-nets in the Isle of Man.
trait = 1) any character or property of an organism.
trait = 2) in systematics, a trait is a genetically determined feature that is not fixed in a population and individuals may show different traits of any character, e.g. presence, absence, size, shape, etc.
tram oil = unrefined cod liver oil used to make candles and in lamps.
trammel net = a net made up of a fine-meshed net between two large-meshed nets extended between two ropes and set up in a tidal current or river, the fish being trapped by becoming wrapped in the fine-meshed net that forms bags around the fish.
tran = uncleaned fish fat or fish oil.
tran oil = oil from decomposed fish.
trancher = armouring (the outer wall of large mesh netting forming part of a trammel net, q.v. Also called outer net, outer wall, outwall, outwalling, wall, walling, windows).
trans- (prefix) = across.
trans. nov. = abbreviation for translatio nova, meaning new transfer, and used to indicate that a taxon has been altered in position but retains the epithet from its name in the former position.
trans-national fishery = a fishery in which the stock(s) crosses the EEZ, q.v., of two or more countries.
transboundary stock = a stock of fish that migrates across international boundaries or other jurisdictional boundaries.
transect = 1) to divide by cutting transversely.
transect = 2) a sample area in a long continuous strip. See also strip transect and visual transect.
transfer = 1) in taxonomy, a change in the position of a taxon, with or without a change in name.
transfer = 2) a transferred species.
transfer brooder = a reproductive guild (q.v.) where the eggs are carried in some fashion before deposition - in cupped pelvic fins, inside the body cavity or in a cluster depending from the genital pore. After deposition these type is most similar to non-guarding phytophils, e.g. Oryzias latipes and Callichthys fasciatus.
transferred name = nomen translatum (an available name which has been altered (usually in ending only), the change depending on transfer from one taxonomic rank to another, or from one taxon to another. Authorship and date remains as for the original name).
transferred species = any species intentionally or accidentally transported and released by humans into an environment inside its present range.
transform = metamorphosis in lampreys (Petromyzontidae).
transformation stage = a stage in fish development where larval features are lost and juvenile and adult characters are acquired. Changes may be relatively minor or quite dramatic, depending on the taxon, e.g. adult eels are very different in form from their larval leptocephali.
Transgenerational Isotope Labelling = a stable isotope, e.g. barium, given to a female fish just before spawning so that the young fish have a chemical signature in their otoliths and can be tracked. Abbreviated as TRAIL.
transgenic fish = a fish altered by introducing new genetic material (DNA) into its genetic composition, usually via microinjection of DNA into a fertilized egg.
transgression = marine transgression (land flooded by the sea as land sinks or sea level rises).
transhipping = transferring fish from the catch vessel to a factory ship. Also called klondiking.
transition area = an area where one water type or bottom composition changes to another.
transition zone = an abrupt change or lack of structure between two regions of an otolith. May occur during metamorphosis from a larval stage, transition from the sea to fresh water, etc.
transitional = what happens between two equilibrium states corresponding to two different fishing regimes, i.e. the non-equilibrium trajectory between two states, e.g. a regulation may increase equilibrium yield by two-fold but the transition between the two levels of yield will involve a short-term loss in yield.
translatio nova = new transfer, used to indicate a taxon has been changed in position either horizontally to another genus or vertically to a different rank. Abbreviated as trans. nov.
transliterate = to change the letters of one alphabet to the letters of another (still requires translation between languages). Applies where scientific names are formed from words not in Latin and have to be transliterated as all scientific names must be in Latin.
translocation = movement of native or introduced species to waters or habitats outside their natural or previous distribution.
translucent zone = a light zone in an otolith that, relative to other zones, allows the passage of light. Appears dark under reflected light. Also called hyaline zone, but this is not preferred.
transnational fishery = a fishery in which the same resource stock(s) crosses the exclusive economic zones of two or more countries.
transplanted species = transferred species.
transport host = paratenic host (a fish which serves as an additional or optional intermediate host for a parasite. No development of the parasite occurs but the host fish may serve as an essential link in the parasite life cycle).
transporter = net drum (a wide spool over which a trawl or purse seine is hauled in, usually hydraulically powered. Also called net roller).
transshipment = act of transferring the catch from one fishing vessel to either another fishing vessel or to a vessel used solely for the carriage of cargo.
transvasement = an artificial movement of water from one river basin to another, to solve such problems as floods and droughts.
transverse = from side to side; extending across.
transverse bar = a bar which extends roughly at right angles to the shoreline.
transverse canal = supratemporal canal (the cephalic lateral line canal (q.v.) running across the top of the head joining the lateral canals. Abbreviated ST).
transverse curtain = a fold of integument attached to the roof of the mouth behind the upper jaw.
transverse process = parapophysis (plural parapophyses)(a long, transverse process arising from the abdominal vertebral centrum. Parapophyses serve to support epipleural ribs (q.v.) when present and, in Gadidae, the gas bladder. In Clupeiformes they are not fused to the vertebrae. Also called basopophysis and basal process).
transverse scale row = diagonal scale row (the almost vertical rows of scales slanting backwards and downwards across the sides of the body. Divided into scales above the lateral line starting at the front of the dorsal fin (from, but not including, the scale in the middorsal row, to but not including, the lateral line scales) and below the lateral line similarly ending at the front of the anal fin. The number of transverse rows themselves along the body may also be counted).
transverse septum = the combined posterior parietal pericardium and the anterior parietal peritoneum separating the pericardial and peritoneal cavities.
tranter = a hawker of fish. Also spelled traunter.
trap (noun) = 1) fish trap (a spring-loaded trap made of netting on a frame that closes over a fish. The two rectangular halves of the trap are spread apart from the central spring mechanism. The fish is attracted by bait or a dummy fish that the fish sought tries to fight, e.g. a wooden male salmon painted in spawning colours. See also shutter trap).
trap (noun) = 2) trap net.
trap (verb) = 3) the taking of cod or salmon with any type of fixed gear or trap in the coastal fishery (Newfoundland).
trap and haul program = a programme to collect fish at a given point, transport them to a different point, and release them.
trap berth = an inshore area suitable for setting a cod trap and assigned by custom or assignment to a vessel, a crew or a family (Newfoundland).
trap boat = trap skiff.
trap buoy = a buoy used to mark and/or suspend a cod trap.
trap cag = trap buoy.
trap crew = a group of men engaged on the share system to fish under a skipper with cod traps (Newfoundland).
trap fish = cod caught in a cod trap, usually of a small size (Newfoundland).
trap fisherman = a fisherman operating a trap, e.g. a cod trap in Newfoundland.
trap fishery = the capture of fish through trap fishing. In Newfoundland, refers principally to catching cod in cod traps.
trap fishing = fish capture by means of confining in enclosed spaces, e.g. in traps, pots, pound nets, tuna traps, fyke nets, etc.
trap gear = the floats, markers, buoys, leader, etc, used in placing a cod trap in the water.
trap glut = a seasonal surplus of cod taken in cod traps during the inshore migration (Newfoundland).
trap keg = trap buoy.
trap lead = a lead weight used to fix a cod trap in place (Newfoundland).
trap leader = a length of net stretching from the shore to a cod trap to guide fish into the entrance (Newfoundland).
trap line = a series of trap nets set out at regular intervals.
trap linnet = twine knitted into meshes to form a cod trap (Newfoundland).
trap loft = a room or area of fishing premises where cod traps and other nets are kept for winter storage and repair (Newfoundland).
trap man = trap fisherman.
trap master = a member of a Labrador fishing crew in charge of setting and hauling a cod trap.
trap mooring = an anchor, a line and a buoy used to secure a cod trap in place in the water (Newfoundland).
trap net = a net composed of a series of funnels with the mouths kept open by hoops; nets or fences set in streams or along coasts direct fish into this holding container for easy removal. Also called pound net.
trap rig = a rig with a trailer hook trailer hook.
trap season = in Newfoundland, late June to early August, for setting and hauling cod traps.
trap setter = a fishing vessel used for setting traps, pots, pound nets, fyke nets, etc.
trap skiff = a vessel used from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the early 1900s, easily rowed, with a single sail, good carrying capacity, light and cheap to build. Its name came from its main use in setting and tending inshore fish traps and nets. Gradually replaced by the dory which could be stacked one inside the other on offshore schooners.
trap skipper = trap master.
trap system = trap fishing.
trap time = trap season.
trap voyage = 1) the summer fishery in coastal waters in which cod traps are used (Newfoundland).
trap voyage = 2) the period of the summer fishery in coastal waters in which cod traps are used (Newfoundland).
trap voyage = 3) the cod caught on a trap voyage (Newfoundland).
trapping = trap fishery.
trapping berth = a particular area of the fishing grounds assigned by custom or lot to a vessel, crew or family (Newfoundland).
trapping crew = a group engaged or shipped by a merchant, planter or skipper to conduct afloat and on shore the various branches and operations of taking and processing cod with fixed gear or traps (Newfoundland).
trapping season = June to early August, when cod and salmon are taken in coastal waters by means of stationary trap nets (Newfoundland).
trapping voyage = 1) the enterprise of the summer fishery in coastal waters during which cod traps are used (Newfoundland).
trapping voyage = 2) the period of the summer fishery in coastal waters during which cod traps are used (Newfoundland).
trash catcher = trash collector.
trash collector = a wirefence across a stream used to retain debris and create a dam and a plunge pool; makes habitat for fish and collects gravel for spawning habitat. Also called debris catcher, trash catcher or grizzly.
trash fish = those fish which, if caught, are usually thrown away. Those fishes not sought after in a fishery. Also called discarded fish. In some cases these fish are used for human consumption or as fishmeal.
trāsi = a fermented and salted fish paste from Java. See also garum, balachong and ngāpi.
trat = 1) a line with baited hooks at intervals, laid near the water's edge, fastened down at each end, and meant to catch fish when the tide comes in (Yorkshire dialect).
trat = 2) a kind of fishing line attached to a large float, which turns over when a fish is hooked.
traunter = tranter.
traveller = a wooden device or stick for hauling a trawl line (Newfoundland).
trawl = 1) a bag-shaped net towed behind a ship either along the sea floor or in midwater, having a buoyed head rope and a weighted foot rope to keep the net mouth open. It may be towed by one or two ships.
trawl = 2) in Newfoundland, a type of gear comprising a series of longlines of about 100 metres with short, ca. 1 m baited leaders or suds spaced at about 2 m intervals. These longlines were set to float just above the sea floor.
trawl anchor = a simple two-fluked anchor, q.v., used to secure each end of a line of hooks to prevent drifting from position.
trawl board = otter board (a large, heavy, flat piece of wood and metal on each side of the mouth of an otter trawl; the boards plane or shear through the water and keep the net mouth open).
trawl door = otter board (a large, heavy, flat piece of wood and metal on each side of the mouth of an otter trawl; the boards plane or shear through the water and keep the net mouth open).
trawl fishing = a series of hooks on snoods set along one line. Also called spilliard fishing, spillet fishing or bultow fishing. See also boulter, spiller, trot line, longline, etc.
trawl gallows = a structure on a trawler used to raise the otter boards when working the trawl. Usually an H bar with bracket attachments to the deck and a heavy pulley at the top where the trawl warp is pulled through.
trawl gear = trawl (2).
trawl head = a strong, heart-shaped iron frame fitted at each end of a trawl beam to raise it about one metre off the sea bed. The after side is straight and slopes upward of each head to stake the ropes or wires by which the trawl is towed. The sides of the net are seized or lashed at a point close to the ground. Also called head iron and sledge.
trawl knot = tub knot.
trawl tub = a container or barrel to keep the trawl (2) in.
trawl winch = the winches used to set or haul a trawl.
trawler = a vessel that operates a trawl net, trawling being one of the most important commercial fishing methods.
trawling = the operation of a trawl.
tray pack = packaging for fish and other seafood consisting of a shallow, clear or foam-plastic tray covered in transparent film. An absorbent paper pad lies under the fish to absorb moisture.
trayne oil = train oil.
treaty coast = treaty shore.
treaty shore = French shore (the coast of Newfoundland where the French had fishing and curing rights, varying with time (cf. English shore). Used to run from Cape St. John to Cape Ray up until 1904 when access was denied).
treble hook = a hook with three points, composed of a single shaft or three shafts attached together.
Trek fish = a parody of the Jesus fish and Darwin fish (both q.v.) showing an affection for the TV show Star Trek. There are many other variations on the simple fish symbol, comprised of two intersecting arcs, but only the three mentioned here are listed.
trellis drainage system = a system found where streams run parallel to structures in the bedrock with minor tributaries coming in at right angles. See also annular, dendritic, deranged, parallel and rectangular drainage systems.
trench = an elongate and very deep depression with steep sides in the sea floor, cf. trough.
trenchant = sharp, keen, as the teeth of sharks; firmly imbedded; compressed to a sharp edge; incisive, penetrating; sharply defined.
trend = turning and winding of a river or estuary.
tri- (prefix) = three, thrice, threefold.
triacylglycerol = an organic compound used as a lipid store in Nototheniidae.
triangle taper = a special taper of a fly line with a continuous taper and a thin running line; facilitates roll casts.
Triassic = a geological period of the Mesozoic Era ca. 245-210 million years ago. Abbreviated as TR.
tribe = 1) a category of the family-group subordinate to the subfamily.
tribe = 2) an individual taxon of the category "tribe". Its recommended ending is –ini.
tributary = a stream or river that enters a larger body of water, either another river or a lake.
tricaine methanesulphonate = MS-222, a fish anaesthetic applied by immersion in dosed water.
trichodiniasis = a disease caused by a ciliated protozoan (Trichodina sp.). The parasite is quite common and not always disease associated. Lethargy, flashing, mucus production (white to bluish tinges), skin ulcers, frayed fins and frayed gills are symptoms. Respiratory distress results if gills are severely affected.
trickle filter = a wet/dry filter for aquaria. Water is dripped from a spray bar or drip plate over some media which is also exposed to the air. This promotes very efficient nitrification. The medium may be small pieces of plastic, double-layered spiral, q.v., or anything else which will support bacteria and not easily clog.
tricuspid = with three points or cusps, e.g. tricuspid tooth.
trident = a fish spear with three points, often barbed.
trifid = divided into three.
trifurcate = dividing into three.
trigeminal ganglion = tactile neurons of the fifth cranial nerve between the eye and ear.
trigeminal placode = the ectodermal rudiment of the trigeminal ganglion.
trigger = any element that entices a fish to strike, e.g. sight, smell, taste texture, vibration, sound, technique, etc.
trigger activation = the process of pulling, pushing or biting a device by a fish that triggers release of food in aquaculture.
trigger actuation = trigger activation.
trigger point = a catch level that indicates a need for management review.
trigger rate = a catch rate that indicates a need for management review.
trigger TAC = a total allowable catch level that triggers some form of management action when it is reached.
trihedral = with three surfaces, e.g. body of Lactophrys.
trilene knot = a hook knot with the line passed twice through the eye, wrapped around the line five times and the free end passed through the small loop next to the eye. Has a strength of 90% or more Used to tie line to hooks, swivels, snaps and lures. Various websites have animated steps showing how to tie this knot.
trim net = a bag net smaller than a stow net, q.v.. Used for catching whitebait and eels.
trimethylamine oxide = a non-toxic product made from toxic ammonia and used by sharks to keep the body fluid concentration high to prevent loss of water to the sea. Other marine fish may develop a trimethylamine (TMA) content in their flesh through reduction by bacterial action. A TMA of 15 mg per 100 g of fish is considered unmarketable.
trimethylaminuria = fish odour (a genetic disorder giving a rotting fish odour to a person's breath, urine and sweat. Caused by lack of an enzyme that would process an odour-causing protein, trimethylamine. Also called fish odour syndrome).
trimmed = fish with fins removed including the tail.
trimmer = a person who removes irregularities from a fish fillet.
trimming = removal of unsightly or inedible parts of a fish product.
trimming table = a table on which a trimmer works.
trimmings = the cut off waste resulting from preparation of fish fillets.
trinal gill net = a coastal Japanese trammel net comprising three layers, the inner with a small mesh that catches small fish directly, and also forms a pocket around larger fish which extrude through the opposite large mesh outer layer. Fished at 30-45 m and hauled 2-3 hours after setting.
trinomen = a name consisting of three words, the generic name, the specific name, and the subspecific name, which together constitute the scientific name of a subspecies.
trip = 1) the period when a fishing boat is away from port.
trip = 2) the number of fish caught in one angling or commercial fishing excursion.
trip frequency limit = a restriction on the number of trips in a given time period.
trip limit = the maximum catch that a boat is allowed to bring back from any one trip. Usually agreed between fishers and the government so that fishing can be carried out though a longer season and/or more people have a chance to fish. Also called landing limit.
triploid = an abnormal chromosome complement, three times the number in gametes. The usual complement in a species is twice that in gametes, e.g. artificially induced in Ctenopharyhgodon idella for stocking purposes so that escapees cannot reproduce. The process of turning fish into triploid involves either heat, cold, pressure or chemical shocks during the period just after fertilisation. The process only works on female fish; the male fish are only partially affected.
tripolyphosphate = an additive used as a dip to reduce drip loss in prepared fish.
tripus = the fourth of the four Weberian ossicles, q.v., so-named for its three processes. The anterior process joins it to the intercalarium by a ligament, the median process joins it to the third vertebral centrum and the third, posterior process contacts the anterior wall of the gas bladder through a transformator process.
triqueta = triquetra.
triquetra = three fish or fish outlines interlinked. A symbol of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) used by the Celtic Christian Church but dating before Christianity.
Triton = a merman, the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, human above the waist but fish-shaped below. Known as the trumpeter of the sea since he blew on a conch.
tritor = hardened elements of the crushing surface of a chimaeroid tooth plate.
trituration = the act of reducing to fine particles as with food.
trituration teeth = teeth imbedded in the bony matrix of the jaws as in Tetraodontidae.
tritors = teeth with grinding surfaces; hardened points on the tooth plates of Holocephali.
trivial name = an expression used by Linnaeus (as nomen triviale) and others for the specific name. Applied by some authors in the same sense as vernacular name.
troglo- = prefix for subterranean terrestrial and aquatic systems. Note that now often restricted to terrestrial systems, stygo- is for aquatic systems.
troglobiont = a true cave dweller; a troglobite.
troglobite = an obligate cave dweller; one not existing outside a cave or subterranean habitat
troglophile = a non-obligate cave visitor or dweller; able also to live above ground.
trogloxene = stygoxene (an organism found actively or accidentally in a hypogean environment).
troll = 1) trolling (1).
troll = 2) a reel of a fishing rod.
troll fishery = a commercial fishery in marine waters where gear is limited to multiple lures or baits trolled behind the boat (or troller), attached to lines suspended from long poles or outriggers. The lines are often hauled in by powered equipment.
troller = a vessel used in trolling.
trolling = 1) trailing a fishing line (or trolling line) behind a moving boat. In commercial fisheries a speed of 2-10 knots is used to catch tunas and their relatives. Also a technique used on lakes in sport fishing, using a trolling motor.
trolling = 2) fishing with a bait that follows the current, often suspended from a float.
trolling motor = a small, electric motor, usually mounted on the bow of a boat, used to position the boat and manouevre quietly while fishing.
trolling plug = a saltwater plug with strong hooks and a big lip for deep diving.
trolling rod = a fishing rod used to drag a lure behind a moving boat.
trolling spoon = spoon, q.v.
tronçon = a flatfish steak cut on the bone. Sometimes spelled troncon.
troop = 1) a collective noun (a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit) for dogfish.
troop = 2) a collective noun (a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit) for tunas.
trootens = small trout (Northumberland dialect).
trootie = a small trout; also an endearment for small child (Scottish dialect). See also old trout.
trooty = trootie.
-trophic (suffix) = nourishment.
trophic = pertaining to nutrition, the gathering and eating of food.
trophic cascade = a disruption of the food chain by the removal of a key species, often a predator, ramifying through the ecosystem allowing prey to flourish and with a marked effect even on numbers of zooplankton near the base of the food chain. This alters the structure of the ecosystem and, in the case of Atlantic cod in eastern Canada, probably prevents their recovery as numerous smaller fish feed on young cod.
trophic class = the position in the food chain or web occupied by a species.
trophic dead end = overfishing reducing stocks of fish which are then replaced by large numbers of jellyfish. The jellyfish consume any eggs and larvae produced by surviving fish, making recovery of fish stocks unlikely to impossible.
trophic depression = decline in production in a reservoir with age. The decline is due to a reduction in nutrients as these have been leached out of surrounding soils and loss of nutrients from a high flushing rate. Compare tropic upsurge.
trophic guild = a group of unrelated fish that feed on similar food items, e.g. benthivore, detritivore, herbivore, insectivore, omnivore, planktivore, piscivore, etc (all q.v.). Also called feeding guild.
trophic upsurge = high productivity in a newly filled reservoir because of nutrients leaching from surrounding soils, and from soils and organic materials inundated by the new reservoir.
trophogenic layer = the water layer where photosynthetic production of organic matter exceeds destruction.
trophogenic zone = trophogenic layer.
trophology = the study of feeding and food relationships.
tropholytic layer = the deep zone of a lake where food is used faster than it can be produced.
tropholytic zone = tropholytic layer.
trophonema (plural trophonemata) = a long filament from the uterus which secretes a nutritive fluid, hydrotroph, which is absorbed by the embryo's yolk sac or taken in through the mouth or spiracles. Found in Rajiformes.
trophotaenia (plural trophotaeniae) = a ribbon-like extension from the anal or urogenital region of embryonic Goodeidae, Parabrotula (Zoarcidae), Oligopus and Microbrotula (Ophidioidei) which intermingles with ovigerous folds and transfer nutrient material between mother and young.
trophy = a fish caught by an angler of large or record size for the species and area.
trophy mount = a taxidermy mount of a trophy.
tropibasic skull = a skull with eyes set close together, found in most Teleostei. Also called tropitrabic skull since it is the narrow distance between trabeculae which fuse early in development by means of a transverse commissure, the common trabecule, which later forms the nasal and interorbital septa. The skull is arched and vaulted, laterally flattened and usually much higher than broad. The endochondral floor is narrow and the brain is relatively short since it ends at the interorbital septum instead of the ethmoid block. A more advanced condition than in a platybasic skull, q.v.
tropical fish = 1) small aquarium fishes from fresh and marine waters, usually brightly coloured or of unusual body form.
tropical fish = 2) fish from the tropics.
tropical region = ocean waters between the 20°C winter isotherms in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres.
-tropism (suffix) = to turn.
tropism = orientation or growth of a non-motile organism or one of its parts towards or away from a stimulus; sometimes used for motile organisms like fish but taxis is more appropriate.
tropitrabic skull = tropibasic skull.
trot line = a longline used in lakes and streams with hooks at regular intervals. Primarily used in commercial fishing, e.g. for catfish.
trotting = fishing with a bait allowed to move with the river current, the bait usually, but not always, being suspended from a float or bobber.
trough = 1) a long and broad depression in the sea floor with gently sloping sides, cf. trench.
trough = 2) trow.
troubling = a collective noun (a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit) for goldfish.
trounce = use of a trouncer.
trouncer = a device used to scare fish into nets by its noise, e.g. iron chains or rings (Newfoundland). See also dasher, douser and thrasher.
troup = 1) a collective noun (a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit) for trout.
troup = 2) a collective noun (a noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit) for tunas.
trouser codend = double codend (two codends joined at the leading edge. Used on rough grounds to reduce the chance of total loss of a catch).
trouser trawl = a trawl net with a pair of cod ends used in mesh selectivity experiments.
trout = 1) members of the family Salmonidae, such as the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), the latter strictly a char. The former in particular figures prominently in sport fishing in Europe and has various terms peculiar to its fishery. Many of these terms are in dialects of English or are archaic. Trout comes from the Greek for gnawer. Often used in the singular for more than one trout but trouts is now common usage too.
trout = 2) useless or worthless (slang).
trout = 3) an elderly woman regarded as silly. See also old trout.
trout = 4) to fish for trout.
trout binning = a method of catching trout by hitting rocks in a stream with a sledge hammer. This stuns the fish and enables the fisher to pick them up.
trout height = the height that a trout can leap from the water, used as a measure or comparison of height.
trout huvie = a basket used for trout.
trout loup = a waterfall or cascade as leaped by trout (Scottish dialect).
trout pellet = small, dry particles of food composite used on trout farms.
trout pest = viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (an acute or chronic disease of salmonids, such as rainbow trout in farm ponds, causing loss of appetite and of schooling behaviour, darkened colour, bleeding, hyaline gills and exophthalmia. It is associated with temperature changes and with the late winter and spring seasons when temperatures are below 8°C. Abbreviated as VHS. Also called Egtved disease).
trout pout = the prominent result of plastic surgery or collagen injections on human lips.
trout reach = trout zone.
trout section = trout zone.
trout worm = 1) any worm (of any species) that catches trout (of any species).
trout worm = 2) a plastic fishing bait available in a wide variety of colours.
trout zone = an area of a river with fast currents, a stony bottom, and a fish fauna having cylindrical bodies.
trout-coloured = white with black, bay or sorrel spots, as in a horse.
trout-pout = trout pout.
trouter = 1) a passenger train which stops at any point requested by anglers on an holiday excursion (Newfoundland).
trouter = 2) a type of rum drunk on the trouter train.
trouter = a trout fisher.
trouter special = trouter (1).
trouter train = trouter (1).
troutin' = trouting.
trouting = 1) fishing for trout.
trouting = 2) angling for freshwater fish in Newfoundland, especially for brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) as opposed to the commercial fishery for cod, or for brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Scotland.
troutlet = a little trout.
troutling = a little trout.
trow = 1) a double boat, especially one used in salmon spearing at night with lights where nets cannot be used. It consisted of two single, narrow, flat-bottomed boats, each about ten feet long, fourteen inches extreme breadth, and twelve inches deep, united at the stem and diverging by an angular curve towards their sterns, which are braced together at the top by a piece of flat board. One man usually guides the trows with a pole, whilst another stands with one leg in each trow, holding a leister or spear in his hand ready to strike the fish (English and Scottish dialect). Also spelled trough and several Scottish variants.
trow = 2) Scottish version of trolling.
trow net = castnet (a method of catching fish in shallow waters by throwing a circular net over them; the net opens in the air to a diameter of about 2 metres and sinks rapidly because of weights attached to its margin. The rim of the net has a draw rope that enables it to be closed. Also called throw net).
trowl = to draw gently upwards a line with hooks on it, stretched across a stream, and fastened to a rod at each side (Scottish dialect).
troy ounce = 31.103 g. Abbreviated as oz tr.
truck = goods and supplies received in a truck system.
truck system = an arrangement by which a fisherman and his family were supplied by a merchant with provisions and gear, against the season's catch.
trucking = trawling.
truff = a grilse or salmon of the first year.
truncate = cut off squarely; said of a caudal fin with hind margin straight.
truncus arteriosus = the first part of the arterial vascular system after the bulbus cordis of the heart, q.v. It is not part of the heart as it contains no cardiac fibres, only smooth muscle.
trunk = 1) the body of a fish between the posterior border of the opercular membrane and the vent.
trunk = 2) an oblong wooden box in which fish were packed aboard trawlers.
trunk = 3) a box in which fish are sent to the market. Pierced with holes, in which live fish could be submerged in water when not wanted immediately for market (English dialect).
trunk canal = the lateral line canal on the flank.
trunk hole = an opening in the floor of a fishing stage (q.v.) through which waste was thrown and salt water drawn up (Newfoundland).
trunk ring = one of the dermal plates in members of the Syngnathidae forming a series of rings enclosing the body; trunk rings run from the ring bearing the pectoral fin to the ring with the anus.
trunk shield = a series of overlapping bony plates forming a ring around the trunk of Placoderms, just behind the head and articulating with the head shield in most species.
trunking = taking fish from a trawler to the fish carrier. Also known as boarding and ferrying.
trusty trout = a true friend (English slang).
try = to drain fish livers for oil. Also called dry. See also well.
try the net = to test the catch of fish by hauling in a few yards of the net nearest the boat, before pulling the whole length on board (British dialect).
tsukurimi = raw fish meat sliced and eaten immediately (Japan). Also called sashimi, q.v.
tsukadani = whole small fish (and also shellfish meat or seaweed) cooked in a mixture of soya sauce and sugar. The term is usually preceded by the name of the fish (Japan).
tsuke raft = a raft made of bamboo bundles tied together and anchored at sea. Used to attract game fish which seek shade or small prey associated with the raft.
TTARGET = the target year set by a policy for fish stock to be completely rebuilt.
tub = 1) a puncheon, q.v., sawn in half, used to hold split cod in salt (Newfoundland).
tub = 2) a wooden barrel sawn off at the first hoop above the middle, in which trawl lines are coiled in dory fishing.
tub knot = a special knot tied at the end of the series of linked lines forming a trawl, serving to mark its end.
tube bait = tube lure.
tube fly = a salmon fly tied around a plastic-lined, brass or aluminium tube which then slides freely along the line. Water pressure pulls it down to the terminal treble hook and when a fish takes the hook it slides back up the line making it easier to unhook the fish.
tube lure = a hollow, soft plastic lure with one end a skirt with tentacles.
tubercle = a small, usually hard protuberance or excrescence of the skin.
tubercle, breeding = usually small, raised, epidermal structures on regions of the head, body, or fin rays where two individuals come in contact. May consist of aggregations of non-keratinized epidermal cells, the same with a light, superficial keratinized cuticle, or with substantial number of fully keratinized cells that are organized to form a discrete, usually conical cap. Breeding tubercles may function to maintain body contact between the sexes during spawning; in the defence of nests and territories; in the stimulation of females in courtship; and in some forms perhaps in sex and species recognition. Also called nuptial tubercle. Found in 15 families of 4 orders; Salmoniformes, Gonorhynchiformes, Cypriniformes, and Perciformes (Wiley and Collette, 1970).
tuberculate = with tubercles.
tuberculate ridge = ridge of keratinised tissue in breeding males of some Cyprinidae and Percidae.
tuberculosis = a mycobacterial infection found in aquarium fish, for example (Mycobacterium marinum and M. fortuitum are known causes.). Fish are lethargic, show little interest in food, exhibit wasting, hollow bellies, popeyes, colour loss, deformities, ulcers, frayed fins, yellow or dark nodules on the body and eyes, and secondary infections. Some fish, such as salmonids, may show no external symptoms although the disease is fatal from internal lesions. Mycobacteriosis is a zoonose, a disease capable of infecting humans, entering through skin abrasions and causing skin granulomas. Poor aquarium conditions can allow this infection to take hold. Fish can be treated with proprietary medicines for mild cases, by antibiotics but severe cases may be untreatable. The fish tank needs disinfection. Also called fish TB and mycobacteriosis.
tuberculum impar = the lateral middle walls of the fourth ventricle of the brain, each expanded as two lobes and meeting in the midline to separate the ventricle into posterior and anterior halves. Also called facial lobe.
tuberous organ = electroreceptor (an organ which detects the presence of an electric current. They are particularly receptive to their own electrical fields and can detect perturbations caused by other fishes and objects. Found, for example, on such weakly electric fishes as mormyrids and gymnotiforms).
tuberous receptor = electroreceptor (an organ which detects the presence of an electric current. They are particularly receptive to their own electrical fields and can detect perturbations caused by other fishes and objects. Found, for example, on such weakly electric fishes as mormyrids and gymnotiforms).
Tubifex = small red worms sometimes used as food in aquaria. Since their natural habitat is mud and they are common in polluted areas, they often introduce disease into aquaria. Freeze-dried and irradiated Tubifex is safer than the live ones.
tubiform = shaped like a tube.
tubular eye = an elongate tube-shaped eyeball with immense lens and large retina found in some bathypelagic fishes, e.g. Macropinna, Opisthoproctus, Argyropelecus, Odontostomus, Scopelarchus, Gigantura.
tubular trap = 1) a funnel-shaped trap in the form of a long, narrowing tube. Beyond a certain point, any fish in the funnel is unable to turn around or back up because of the narrow space and the fish's own spiny fin rays. Some of these traps may have thorns lining the inner surface, preventing fish from escaping.
tubular trap = 2) a funnel-shaped trap set vertically below a natural or artificial waterfall so that the flow of water carries the fish into the trap.
tubule = an element of the fish kidney.
tuck = 1) to take the fish from a seine by means of a tuck-net.
tuck = 2) to enclose fish in a net by drawing the openings together.
tuck = 3) one of the lines drawn tight in a cast net.
tuck = 4) quantity of fish taken in one haul of a net.
tuck net = a net used to scoop up fish that have been surrounded by a seine, e.g. in the old pilchard fishery of Cornwall. The contents of the tuck net are lifted by baskets into a boat.
tuck seine = a seine operated at sea and hauled into a boat.
tuck net = stop seine (a net positioned across a bay or other delimited area, the fish so enclosed being removed with seines, dip-nets, etc. A bar seine).
tucked half blood knot = a blood knot with the end tucked back through the final loop. Less prone to slipping than the usual half blood knot. Various websites have animated steps showing how to tie this knot.
tucker = a small boat of about 3 tons used in fishing for plaice (Sussex dialect).
tucking line = one of the lines of a fish net drawn tight to enclose the catch.
tucking maund = a shallow basket used to scoop mackerel from a net.
tuft gill = gill tuft (a fluffy cluster of gill filaments, e.g. in Syngnathidae, from Lophobranchii).
tug = 1) to jerk a fishing line up and down or to and fro in the water to attract fish to the bait.
tug = 2) a small and poor quality fish (Shetland Isles dialect).
tug fishing = pulling a line or net through the water.
tug net = a fishing net that is drawn through the water.
tumbling sickness = a parasitic disease of salmonids attacking the nervous system and causing disorientation and tumbling motion.
tumid = swollen, inflated.
tuna = first recorded in America in 1884; may be an anagram of atun, the Spanish for the fish that had been called tunny in English for centuries, from the Latin thunnus.
tuna ham = smoked fish sausage. The tuna meat is mixed with salt, sugar, starch and spices and smoked for 12 hours before vacuum packing (Japan).
tuna links = sausages made from tuna.
tuna longline = a longline specifically designed for tuna fishing with 4 or more branch lines in each unit or basket.
tuna ranch = an enclosed net in the sea where adult tuna are kept and fed until they have gained weight, up to 20%. 90% of the fish are sent to Japan.
tuna sticker = slang for a harpoon used to spear tuna in Maritime Canada.
tuna tower = a high platform in a fishing boat from which spotters look for fish. A low platform is a marlin tower.
tunagate = a Canadian political scandal in 1985 when possibly tainted, canned tuna were sold to the public under government authority.
tunica externa = the external layer of the gas bladder, covered by the peritoneum, and made up of elastic fibres and ichthyocol (short needles of collagen). See also tunica interna and submucosa, the other two layers.
tunica interna = the internal layer of the gas bladder made up of thin endoderm and a smooth muscle layer called the muscularis mucosa with longitudinal and circular fibres with some collagen. See also tunica externa and submucosa, the other two layers.
tuning = a means to minimise differences between the observed abundance indices in a stock assessment and the abundance predicted by a model.
tuning fleet = research vessels making regular surveys or commercial vessels where their activities have been well studied over many years; these vessels are used to tune the virtual population analysis.
tunny = 1) one of several species of the family Scombridae.
tunny = 2) an encryption system, one of the fish (fibonacci shrinking) German teleprinter cipher used in World War II. This system was successfully read by the code-breakers at Bletchely Park. See also sturgeon.
tuppeny tightener = a portion of fish and chips costing two pennies, a tightener being a substantial meal (archaic).
turbid = water opaque with suspended matter.
turbinate = resembling an inverted cone.
Turbot War = an international fishing dispute in 1995 between Canada and the European Union, especially Spain. Canadian officials boarded a Spanish fishing trawler in international waters and arrested its crew. Canada claimed that European Union factory fishing trawlers were illegally overfishing the nose (q.v.) and tail (q.v.) of the Grand Banks, just outside Canada's declared 200 nautical mile (370 km) Exclusive Economic Zone.
turd fish = floating excrement.
TURF = abbre