New Jersey Scuba Diving

Norway Rat

Rattus norvegicus

Size: 6-8" (body)

Habitat: everywhere

Notes:
Sorry to say, but rats are especially common around watery habitats and are excellent swimmers. They are particularly fond of beaches, marshes, ships, docks, and jetties. The next time you go diving at Shark River, take a careful look in the rocks and you will likely see one or two scampering around, dining on old fishing bait and washed-up detritus, even in broad daylight. The Norway Rat is introduced from the Old World, and in most areas today it is more common than the native Black Rat.

Overview of Fishes

A fish is defined as a limbless aquatic vertebrate animal with fins and internal gills. There are three living classes of fish:

Primitive jawless fishes - class Agnatha
Cartilaginous fishes - class Chondrichthyes
Bony fishes - class Osteichthyes

These groups, although quite different from one another anatomically, have certain common features related to their common evolutionary origins or to their aquatic way of life. Fish were the earliest vertebrates, and presumably evolved from a group of aquatic lower chordates; the terrestrial vertebrates evolved from fishes.

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Norway Rat

Freshwater Mammals

Overview of Fishes