skip to content
Government of Western Australia - Department of Fisheries

Glossary - H

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

 

Habitat
Area or environment in which an organism normally lives or occurs.

Habitat preference
A measure to explain the preference of organisms to a particular habitat.

Handline
Fishing reel not attached to a rod; fishing line held by hand.

Harvest
The amount of fish or seafood products caught.

Haul net
A piece of net used similarly to a beach seine net but operated from a small boat in shallow water (less than 5 m). The net is used to encircle the fish and then hand-hauled while the vessel is stationery. The meshes used are regulated to select specific sizes of a species.

Hatcheries
Artificial environment for the hatching of fish.

Heart
Chambered muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood received from the veins into the arteries.

Heat
Energy which is spontaneously flowing from an object with a high temperature to an object with a lower temperature.

Herbivore
An animal that feeds on plant matter.

Hermaphrodite
An organism with both male and female gonads.

Heterocercal tail
A type of fish fin or tail where the lobes are asymmetrical, as in sharks.

Heterotroph
An organism that cannot make its own food and must consume plant or animal matter to meet its body’s energy needs.

Holdfast
The root-like portion of macroalgae that allows the algae to the substrate.

Holoplankton
Organisms that are planktonic for their entire life cycle.

Homocercal tail
A type of fish tal that is symmetrical in shape i.e. the upper and lower lobes are of similar size, as in most finifish.

Hookah (Diving System)
Is a diving system that delivers air to divers via hoses from a surface air compressor, rather than from scuba tanks (compressed air).

Humboldt Current (or Peru Current)
A cold ocean current flowing northwards along the western coast of South America.

Hull
The watertight body of a ship or boat.

HWM
High Water Mark

Hydrometer
An instrument for determining the specific gravity of a liquid.

Hydrostatic skeleton
Maintenance of the shape of an organism by the filling of internal spaces with a liquid (usually water).

Hydrothermal vent
A fissure on the sea floor that continuously expels superheated, mineral-rich water that supports a diverse community of organisms.

Hypersaline
Salinity well in excess of that of seawater.

Hyperostosis
Above-normal bone growth.

Hypoxic
Low levels of oxygen, sub-optimal for supporting life.

 

Last modified: 11/09/2012 11:18 AM

wa.gov.au

© All contents copyright Government of Western Australia. All rights reserved. ABN: 18 951 343 745

Copyright

© This work is copyright. You may display, print or reproduce this material only in an unaltered format for your personal or non-commercial use, or for use within your organisation. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved.

Disclaimer

The information and advice provided by the Department of Fisheries website is made in good faith and is from sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of release onto the website. Changes in circumstances after a document is placed on the website may affect the accuracy of the information. Full disclaimer details are available at www.fish.wa.gov.au.