Why do fish have a memory of only three seconds?

Fish have only seconds to remember is a complete fallacy, and recent Australian researchers have found that fish are more intelligent than humans think, with memory for months to years, and know how to learn, and can use deception. Xinhuanet, January 18** Many people think that fish have low intelligence and poor memory, and some people even say that "fish only have three seconds of memory". Australian researchers have found that fish are more "intelligent" than humans think, with memories that can take months or even years to remember far more than seconds, and that they also have the ability to learn and use deception to hunt.

Kevin Wobton, a research associate at the Institute for Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, has been working on fish for many years, particularly freshwater fish in the south-east waters of Queensland. He said that the perception that fish only have short memories is completely wrong. "It's a complete fallacy that fish only have a second memory," the British Daily Telegraph quoted Wabbton as saying

Over the past few years, a lot of research has been done on the learning ability and memory of fish, and we have found that fish are actually quite complex. "Fish are able to remember the type of prey for months," he says.

Once they are attacked by a predator and then know to hide from such predators, this memory can last for months. And after the carp is caught on the hook, it will avoid the hook for at least a year. Myth busting: Dr Ashley Ward, a fish biologist at the University of Sydney, agrees with Wabbton.

He believes that the misconceptions about poor memory and mental retardation in fish may have originated from early zoological research. "Zoologists at the time were using humans as a reference to test the abilities of fish, and of course the fish appeared incompetent," Ward said. In fact, fish have amazing memory.

For example, he said, Professor Charles Erickson in the United States fed a school of fish, each feeding called "fish fish" for several months. After the hiatus, Erickson came to the tank and called "fish fish" again, and the fish immediately swam to the surface and waited to be fed. Wabbton is smart enough to say that fish also have certain human-like behaviors, such as deception and falling into a trap.

Fish are able to recognize other fish and adjust their behavior based on interactions with other fish. For example, he said, two groups of Siamese fighting fish are fighting, and if one loses, the other will be attacked more violently. The reef fish is a clean fish that feeds on parasites and slime from large fish.

They know how to adapt their work attitude to the working environment. "If there's a potential 'customer fish' around, they'll perform better, which will raise the impression and attract potential 'customer fish,'" Warbuton said. According to Wobton, fish also have the ability to learn.

When he studied the freshwater fish silver perch, he found that when there was only one prey object, the silver perch became more and more efficient; However, when faced with two types of predators, the predation efficiency of the silver bass is much reduced. "We think it's because they're distracted, and it's the cost of learning," Wabbton said. Ward also cites a species of cannonball fish in northern Australia that "use tools and other tricks to trick prey".

Because it has more water in its head.

It is a complete fallacy that fish only have a 3-second memory, and Australian researchers have found that fish are more intelligent than humans think, have a memory of months to years, know how to learn, and can use deception. Fish are more "intelligent" than humans think, they can remember far more than seconds, but can reach months or even years, and they also have the ability to learn.

As vertebrates, fish have memory, and their memory is also related to conditioned emission, and fish can form long-term memory after being "trained", at least not only 7 seconds.

In fact, if the "fish memory has 7 seconds" is taken as a scientific conclusion, many questions will arise. Can memory be accurate to the second? If the average memory of a fish is 7 seconds, then don't some of the dumber fish have only a memory of seconds?

When these "stupid" fish take a bite of food, will they instantly forget what they are holding in their mouths?

Fortunately, fishes have a rather unique evolutionary position as an early species of vertebrates, so there is a lot of scientific research on fish memory. Although the types of fish used as experimental materials are different, and the methods and specific purposes of the experiments are different, almost all studies on fish memory show that fish memory is much longer than 7 seconds.

The memory of the fish is only 7 seconds, which is not based on scientific evidence, but a popular phrase on the Internet, which means that the memory of the fish is only 7 seconds, and it will be forgotten after 7 seconds, and it will not remember what happened before, so it will not be boring in a small fish tank, reflecting loneliness and sadness, but after the research of scientists, it has been found that the memory of the fish is more than 7 seconds.

Because fish are very forgetful.

Shallow water fish, which can also be thought of as fish in a tank, usually live in shallow water, and they are born with the misconception that they only have a three-second memory.

However, we can observe that there is a shallow water fish, which breeds with freshwater areas, but swims with the major oceans throughout the year. As soon as the breeding season arrives, they can follow the route to get it back, so the three-second memory is because the fish don't see you as a thing, it's their instantaneous unconscious memory.

Fish that live at an altitude of about 1,000 meters above sea level are not the height, but the depth. They need to have a long memory, because their food is relatively scarce, and the main role of their memory is how to grab the limited food.

Fish don't have only seven seconds of memory.

In daily life, we often hear the saying that fish only have seven seconds of memory, but according to scientific experiments, fish have not only seven seconds of memory. The fish we see have a long history and are the oldest vertebrates on Earth, with almost all terrestrial vertebrates on Earth evolving from fish morphology more than 500 million years ago.

Scientists have experimented with goldfish, and studies have proved that as long as the fish have undergone a period of reasonable training, the memories and habits of these fish will form a conditioned reflex for up to a month, and some fish memories will be inherited, such as zebrafish with a long strip pattern, the memory of this fish can be retained in its own DNA and passed on to the next generation. The brains of fish are a little smaller, but people are not forgetful, which may be the reason why when you fish, people don't take the bait.

The habits of fish

Fish swim around underwater and breathe by gills for the main purpose of foraging. They belong to ectotherms, and their body temperature changes with the water temperature, and the water temperature changes in different seasons will affect the range of the fish. When the weather is hot and humid and the air pressure is low, the fish will be anorexic; When the water temperature is right and oxygen is abundant, fish will be more active and will actively forage for food.

Fish feed on small fish and shrimp, plankton, plant seeds, insects, etc.

Most fish live either in freshwater or saltwater, but less than 10% of migratory fish migrate back and forth between freshwater and marine environments. Growing in the ocean but needing to go to freshwater to breed is called anadromous migration, such as the Chinese sturgeon; It grows in freshwater but needs to go to the ocean to breed, which is called river migration, such as the flower eel Tongling. If the fattening and breeding migration occurs between rivers and lakes, it is called semi-migratory fish, which is generally fattened in lakes and spawned in rivers, such as the four large fish.

The fish only remembers for 7 seconds, and after 7 seconds it will not remember what was before, and everything will be a new beginning.

As early as the last century, researchers have a curiosity about the memory of fish, so through a series of experiments to observe the paradise fish this fish, it was found that it is actually very smart, and its memory is also particularly strong, when the research scholars put this fish in a strange environment after familiarity, and then fish it back, as a result, after two or three months to meet these fish together before, and this kind of paradise and these old friends who can still remember it, which shows that his memory is super strong, At the very least, it can last for several months, but of course, whether the memory of the fish can last for several years is not possible to study because the fish have a limited vitality.

Depending on the type of fish, fish have memories that can be as short as three days or as long as at least three months.

The catfish we usually eat belongs to a carnivorous fish. When raising catfish, fishermen feed them at regular intervals every day. In the long experience, every time the fisherman feeds the catfish, he will hit the planks and make a vibration.

Over time, as soon as you tap the plank, those catfish will rush over to feed. Even if they don't throw food for a while, they will still come by knocking on the plank. Catfish take sound as a signal to forage and can store it.

Growth and reproduction

Fish are generally dioecious, and the gonads are usually in pairs. Cartilaginous fishes are generally fertilized in vivo, ovoviviparous, viviparous or oviparous, and most bony fish are fertilized in vitro. The freshwater fish that lay eggs are sinking or floating, and the saltwater fish are floating.

The sexual maturity of fish has a lot to do with species, nutrition, water temperature, light, etc., and is regulated by gonadotropins. The fertilized eggs hatch after a certain period of time, and the larvae come out of the membrane. The life cycle of a fish is divided into embryonic stage, larval stage, immature stage and adult stage. The larval mortality rate is the highest.

The above content reference: Popular Science China - Who said that the memory of fish is only 7 seconds? Some animals have a better memory than humans, and it's okay.

The memory of the fish can last for about 1-3 months. Through training, it is also possible to strengthen their memory.

Usually this animal has a relatively short memory of an event, but it can be remembered better by repeating it after multiple contacts. Through experiments, it has been found that when the goldfish is released again after 20 seconds, it will appear frightened and dodge, and the fish will still have a tendency to avoid after a month of testing.

Fish have a memory, and the fish has a good memory, it is a highly intelligent creature, the fish represents more than 60% of the world's vertebrates, is a mysterious species that has evolved for 300 million years, and it has more species than mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds combined.

Introduction to fish

1. Appearance. There are many types of fish, but in terms of appearance, they are basically within these four. The first is spindle-shaped, which is the most common body shape, and this type of fish is good at swimming.

The second is the side flat type, which is very long and wide from the side, but it is narrower from the top. There is also a stick type, which looks like a snake. The last type is flattened, which is the body shape of manta rays.

2. Fins. Most fish have fins, which is also one of the characteristics of fish, and only a few fins have degenerated, such as yellow eels, eels, etc. Fish fins are divided into pectoral fins, pelvic fins, anal fins, dorsal fins, and caudal fins, with the caudal fin determining the direction of the fish's swim and providing power, and the other fins responsible for maintaining balance.

3、**。The ** of fish is divided into epidermis and dermis, the epidermis is relatively thin, which can secrete mucus to lubricate the fish body, thereby reducing the friction before and allowing it to swim better in the water. There are nerves, blood vessels, ** receptors, etc. under the dermis, and between the two are its scales, which generally cover the whole body and can provide a certain protective effect.