Holly Spindler
Fish facts to blow your mind; from fish-made art, to the use of tools.
Fish are often seen very differently to other animals. With scales instead of fur, lack of facial expression, and unblinking eyes, they do not trigger the caregiving emotions that cats and dogs often do. But they are incredible animals, hugely diverse and intricately adapted to their different environments. Just as we land animals keep evolving, as do fish (and they’ve been around a lot longer!). We’re exploring the many reasons fish deserve our respect.
1. There are more species of fish than mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians put together. In 2021 and 2022 alone, 11 new species were discovered in Asia’s Mekong River. There are 70 species of flying fish and gusts of wind can carry them up to 20 feet in the air.
2. They can be self-aware. Cleaner Wrasse have been shown to not only respond to their reflection in a mirror, but also attempt to remove marks on their own bodies when looking in a mirror, a very clear sign of being self-aware.
3. Some fish have the genetic sequences needed to make fingers. Sensibly they grow fins instead, which are far more suited to their environment.
4. Most modern fish are tetrachromatic. This means they see colour more vividly than us humans.
5. Fish use tools. OK, not a screwdriver, but in a similar way as chimpanzees have been studied using rocks to crack open nuts. In 2009, an Orange-Dotted Tuskfish was filmed repeatedly smashing molluscs on rocks to get to the clams inside.
6. Fish can hunt...birds?! In Schroda Dam, a man-made lake in South Africa, Tigerfish have been filmed turning the tables. As swallows fly close to the surface of the water, the fish shoot out and snatch them out of mid-air. It has been seen too often to be an accident and, given the renowned speed and agility of swallows, must take an incredible amount of skill. And a Catfish in Albi, France has evolved to hunt pigeons!
7. There’s a common misconception that fish are not very involved in parenting. In fact, different species of fish have a variety of ways that they protect their eggs and young, from defending them violently from predators (at risk to their own lives), like the Damselfish, to the male Seahorse that carries his eggs in a special pouch.
8. Fish can learn. Imagine you’re in a restaurant, and the waiter brings you food on a red and a blue plate. The blue plate is taken away quickly, before you have a chance to start on it, while the red one is left. Now imagine you return to this restaurant and the same thing happens. You’re more likely to eat the food on the blue plate first in case it’s taken away again, right? In a similar test on fish (Cleaner Wrasse) and primates, the fish outperformed the primates, showing superb ability to learn.
9. The smallest adult fish that we currently know of is a Goby, at a third of an inch in length. Despite being small, the Goby is smart. And it's important here to remember that smart doesn't mean what humans consider to be smart like knowing how to do algebra or brain surgery. Evolution means that animals grow smarter in ways that are useful for their survival. For the Frillfin Goby, their survival depends on being able to leap from tide pool to neighbouring tide pool after the tide goes out. This way they can avoid predators. This is a risky maneuver; landing on rocks between the pools can be fatal. But the Goby has a very clever solution. While they are swimming in high tide, they memorise the topography of the bottom of the ocean. They make a mental map so, when the tide goes out, they know where all the pools are. Studies have shown that the little Goby can remember this information 40 days later.
10. Can fish tell each other apart? While, to us, fish from the same species can look identical, fish can certainly identify, and recognise other individuals. They also recognise human faces and will respond differently if they know the person, especially if they are the one that feeds them.
11. Fish can create art. When diver Yoji Ookata was exploring about 80 feet down off the southern tip of Japan, he discovered a six foot wide symmetrical, circular pattern in the sand. Ookata later discovered these were made by a male Pufferfish, swimming on his side and gently flapping a fin, occasionally decorating the pattern with shells. He was doing this to attract a female, an underwater equivalent of a bouquet of flowers!
These fascinating facts are included in the ground-breaking book, What a Fish Knows, by Jonathan Balcombe, which aims to give a voice to fish so we can better understand them and the way they see the world.
Rather see the video? Watch below.
The differences that exist between us and fish can make empathy more difficult and, with less legal protection than land animals, fish are some of the most exploited animals on the planet.
There is an estimate (based on statistics from 1999-2007) that the number of fish killed each year by humans is between 78 and 171 billion per year, more than the number of farmed birds and mammals combined.
While the number of fish killed is usually shown in tons, this doesn't take into account the individuality of fish. And they are individuals, just like the cats and dogs we love, and just as we are.
