Buzz
A popular misconception suggests that goldfish are incapable of remembering anything beyond three seconds, creating the illusion of a life filled with endless new sights and sounds.
Much like the myth that crabs and lobsters don't experience pain, this falsehood is one I often encounter in my fish-related profession, despite being disproven on numerous occasions. Goldfish and other fish are fully capable of 1) learning, 2) retaining that knowledge, and 3) recalling and utilizing it long after. Here's some proof:
"¢ Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters successfully trained his goldfish to identify color patterns and navigate an underwater obstacle course. Even more impressively, over a month after the initial training, the fish could recall the course and complete it without any further assistance from Hyneman.
"¢ Rory Stokes, a 15-year-old student at the Australian Science and Mathematics School, recently conducted an experiment with his pet fish to explore their memory capabilities.
He placed a red Lego block in the fish tank whenever he fed them, scattering the food around the block. After three weeks, the fish were approaching the block and waiting for the food before it even hit the water. Over those weeks, the time it took them to reach the block decreased from over a minute to under five seconds. Then, for six days, Stokes fed the fish without using the block. When he returned the Lego to the tank, the fish swiftly rushed to it in just 4.4 seconds. "They remembered perfectly well," Stokes said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "They even got there faster than they did on average during the first three feeds before I left."
"¢ A researcher at the Rowland Institute for Science in Massachusetts trained carp to recognize the difference between a John Lee Hooker blues track and a Bach Oboe concerto. Later, the carp could categorize unfamiliar music as either classical or blues, and even distinguish between simple melodies played forwards and backwards.
"¢ Scientists from the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel conditioned their fish by playing a specific sound during feeding times, linking the sound to their meals (this is called classical conditioning, and an excellent example can be found here). After a month of training, the fish were released into the wild. Five months later, when they had grown into adults, the sound was broadcast over a loudspeaker in the ocean, and the fish returned.
"¢ In a 2003 study at the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, fish were trained to press a lever to receive a food reward. When the lever was set to work only for one hour each day, the fish learned to activate it at the right time and ignored it for the rest of the day.
"¢ Fish can also learn outside the lab and remember complex paths through natural environments. A recent study conducted by the University of Minnesota showed that carp could learn the location of a food reward within a few days. They consistently left their home range at night and in murky conditions to visit the food reward. Researchers believe the carp's memory was supported by olfactory cues, and their initial learning was aided by following other fish along the route. * * * * * * So, fish owners, have your fish ever amazed you with their intelligence? Have you taught your goldfish any cool tricks?
* I couldn't find any information about where or when this false fact started circulating. I think I first saw it on the bottom of a Snapple cap in the mid-90s. Anyone have any leads?
