If you are wondering if fish are considered to be insects or animals then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I’ll answer this exact question for you and after I’ve given you the answer I’ll also give you the answers to a few more closely related questions, so make sure you keep on reading this article till the end.
Are fish considered insects or animals? Fish are not classified as insects because they lack almost all the characteristics that are needed to classify them as insects. Fish are on the other hand animals because they do contain the characteristics that are required to call them animals.
Therefore also all the fish species that exist in this world can be classified as animals because they all fall under the classification fish. So, there are also no fish species that can be classified as an insect.
Why are fish not classified as insects?
Various characteristics are linked to animals that are classified as insects. Fish aren’t classified as insects because they lack most of the characteristics that are needed to call them insects. A few of the characteristics that fish lack are that:
- Insects have jointed legs, fish do not have this.
- Insects have a pair of antennae on their heads, fish do not have this.
- Insects usually have two pairs of wings, fish do not have this.
There are many more characteristics that are needed to be present in an animal to classify the animal as an insect. But above I’ve listed three that every fish lacks.
Why are fish animals?
Animals are multicellular living organisms that belong to the biological kingdom Animalia. Animals generally breathe oxygen, consume organic materials, can move around, and can reproduce sexually. This is also why fish are called animals because they contain all these characteristics.
So, if fish would’ve lacked one of the just mentioned characteristics then you can be sure that they wouldn’t be classified as animals.
You already know a bit more about why fish cannot be classified as an insect and also why they are classified as animals. But do you also want to find out if fish is considered to be poultry or meat? Then you should check out the article: “Is Fish Considered Poultry Or Meat? (Explained In-Depth)” which will give you the exact answer to this question and in the article you’ll find a few more answers to closely related questions.
What are the differences between fish and insects?
There are differences between fish and insects. Examples of these differences are that:
- Insects have a shell-like covering on the outside of their bodies and fish have scales on the outside of their bodies.
- Insects have three main body parts which are their head, thorax, and abdomen, and fish also have three body parts which are it’s head, trunk, and tail.
- Insects have a pair of antennae and fish do not.
- Insects have three pairs of legs and fish don’t have any legs.
- Insects have two pairs of wings and fish don’t have any wings.
- Insects mainly live in, land environments and fish live in water environments.
- Insects breathe through openings in their thorax and abdomen and fish breathe through their gills.
- Insects walk with their legs and fish can swim with their fins.
There are probably a lot more differences between insects and fish but above I’ve written down at least the most obvious differences between these two classifications of animals.
Are fish and insects related?
It is fairly unlikely that fish and insects are related even though it is known that pretty much all animals originated out of the water. It is, however, more likely that insects are related to shellfish and therefore crustaceans are also related to insects.
Even though it might not matter at all, there are more differences to be found in the characteristics between fish and insects than the differences in characteristics between crustaceans and fish.
Related questions
What are fish classified as?
Fish belong to the kingdom Animalia and then specifically to the scientific name “phylum Chordata”. This is, of course, the broadest classification of fish and when looking at more specific fish species, they will be more specifically classified as well.
Are fish mammals?
Fish cannot be classified as mammals because fish do not contain the characteristics that are required to call them mammals. Mammals, for example, have hair or fur, are warm-blooded, and feed their young through the mother’s mammary glands.
Are silverfish insects?
Even though the name contains the word “fish”, silverfish are surely not classified as fish but as insects. They do, however, show fish-like movements when they move around and that’s also why the word “fish” was included in their name.
Check out the video below if you want to learn a bit more about silverfish.
Conclusion
Now you know that fish cannot be classified as insects because they do not contain the characteristics that are required to call them insects. They are, however, classified as animals because they do contain the characteristics that are required to call them animals. Examples of these characteristics are that they breathe oxygen, consume organic materials, and reproduce sexually.
