Fish & Amphibians

About 540 million years ago, there were no plants or vertebrate animals on land or in the seas. out of the setting a toothless, jawless, finless fish evolved, becoming the dominant form of life on Earth for more than 100 million years. Gradually, more fish evolved, displaying great diversity.

Approximately 195 million years later, another animal ventured on to land, crawling on legs and breathing with lungs. This was an ancestor of amphibians we see today. Fish and amphibians have a lot in common besides their long histories. They are both vertebrates, or animals with a backbone, and most of their species thrive in water. Fish must live in water, but most amphibians live in water and on land.

In fact, the word “amphibians’ combines the Greek words for both and life, implying that these creatures live one part of their lives in water and the other part on land. Another thing fish and amphibians have in common: They are cold blooded, which means they cannot internally regulate their body temperatures. Their temperatures tend be slightly below those of their surroundings to prevent the loss of body moisture.

And most fish and amphibians develop from eggs laid in the water. Read on before you start thinking these two animal groups are completely similar. There are plenty of characteristics that set them apart.

what is fish

1.Most fish live in water
2.Get oxygen through their gills, located on the sides of their mouth. Water pasess over the tiny network of blood vessels, which take in oxygen. 3.Have an external covering of scales, a thin layer of protective plates use fins to keep balance.

what is an amphibian

1.Most amphibian have a four legs
2.Have moist, slimy skin or dry, warty skin
3.Have lungs and breathe air, but rely on extra oxygen absorbed through their skin
4.Live in near water, which keeps their skin moist. Without water they would suffocate.

Tadpole

Dear freinds, I am not a fish, I will never be a fish, I am an amphibian. Listen a frog in training is what i really am. Actually it makes a lot of difference. Fish live in water all their lives. We amphibian can live in water and on land. Actually amphibians tend to live in the water in the early part of their lives and on land as adults. However, even as adults we need to live near water to make sure our skin doesnt dry out. There are three gruops of amphibians. Frogs and toads, salamanders and newts, and the legless caecilians. You probably dont know a lot about caecilians, they are the least famous member of my extended family.

Everything else about them is very amphibian like. I understand why you humans might think fish and amphibians are in the same class since we have a lot in common. We love water, we are all cold blooded. You know if the water we live in heats up or freezes over, our body temperature will change in relation to that. We dont confuse you with fish, do we?
We are two distinct classes. So my life now consists of spending all my time in the water and using gills that allow me to breathe underwater, talkng in oxygen like a fish. This is just a stage im going throug, I’ll grow out of it.

A frog, over the course of about two or three months, I’ll develop lungs so I can breathe out of water, lose my tail, and grow four legs. At 10 weeks old, I’ll be ready for the big time land. But I expect an easy transition because, as I said I’ll never be far from water. My parents were frogs. I suppose you would have no way of knowing that right now. But once I am a frog, it will be easy to tell me apart from a toad. I think frogs have a reputation for being classier. As a frog, I’ll leap and have smooth skin. Toads on the other hand, are full of warts and they have a less graceful hop.

I happen to live in one, but any relatively warm water environment, you know, a stream, river, lake will do for us tadpoles. It’s all good. We have a pretty strong membership. We live all over the world in places where the weather and water are warm at least part of the year. The rain forest is a popular place for us. It’s watery and very warm, an environment that helps us grow. I’m a vegetarian. I love to snack on algae in the water. Look if you want to take me home, I would be very happy with a bit of boiled lettuce. I’m easy.

Glad you think so, spread the word. I’m a good neighbor, too. I hate to get personal, but I’ ve had a difficult childhood. I’ve been on my own since I hatched. Many creatures in and around my stream fish, beetles, dragonflies love to snack on my kind. When I was in the egg. I was real easy prey then. But that’s an ecosystem for you. We’re all living together and doing the best we can. We tadpoles pride ourselves on being great producers we do double duty in that area. We’ re very creative.

Listen, so I nibble on a few plants, that’s life. My life, anyway. I produce the best gift of all myself. Besides being food for some of the more unsavory characters around here, I create a new me in the form of a frog. With me you get two times the producing.