Can fish catch colds?

The simple answer to the question of whether fish can catch a cold is: no. This is because fish don't have lungs or a respiratory tract—or a nose to breathe through, for that matter. This is why you'll never see a fish ...

New research rewrites the evolutionary story of gills

Gills are best known for helping most fish species breathe underwater. But less well known is the fact gills regulate the salt and pH balance of fishes' blood, a vital role played by the kidneys in other animals. Collectively ...

How did vertebrates first evolve jaws?

Five-hundred million years ago, it was relatively safe to go back in the water. That's because creatures of the deep had not yet evolved jaws. In a new pair of studies in eLife and Development, scientists reveal clues about ...

Freshwater mussels can inhibit bacterial diseases

Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä found brown trout better survived a Flavobacterium disease outbreak if the fish had larvae of freshwater pearl mussel in their gills. In another study, duck mussels were observed ...

Study traces the evolution of gill covers

The emergence of jaws in primitive fish allowed vertebrates to become top predators. What is less appreciated is another evolutionary innovation that may have been just as important for the success of early vertebrates: the ...

New type of symbiosis: Bacteria eat ammonia in fish gills

Microbiologists and fish researchers from Radboud University have discovered an entirely new type of symbiosis: bacteria in the gills of fish that convert harmful ammonia into harmless nitrogen gas. Environmental Microbiology ...

Study reveals how fish control microbes through their gills

Oriol Sunyer, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, has described fish as "an open gut swimming." Their mucosal surfaces—their skin, digestive tract and gills—are in constant contact ...

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