Goldfish Memory
September 12th 2006 08:47
“It’s okay to eat fish ‘cause they don’t have any feelings," sang Kurt Cobain in the song Something In The Way - but where does this idea come from?
With doctors and dieticians constantly advising us to eat more seafood, it is an inconvenient truth that eating fish is in fact no more ethically sound than eating any other animal - but that is what recent research is saying.
PETA’s Fish Empathy Project is a campaign to increase awareness of the intelligence and sentience of fish. On their website they cite Dr. Donald Broom saying, “the scientific literature is quite clear. Anatomically, physiologically and biologically, the pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and animals.” (Note that their mascot is a cute cartoonish fish who’s eyes have been given eyelids and placed in front, since an animal with ever-open gaping eyes on the side of it’s head, is perceivably less trust worthy or harder to relate to...)
Animal rights campaigning rarely extends to fish and it is curious that while there is popular support for sparing marine animals like whales and dolphins, there is minimal concern for the treatment of species like tuna. Do we misunderstand living fish because they are so far removed from our daily lives? Do we think that because they don’t express pain in a way we recognise, such as making noise audible to us, they don’t experience it? Is it because we don’t see them as affectionate in any way? Is it simply a tactic to clear our conscience so we can eat our salmon sashimi guilt-free?
Also untrue is the widespread idea that fish have a memory span of three seconds. Again, I would suggest the myth
exists because it’s comforting to believe that the goldfish swimming around the same little bowl of water for its entire life, never boars from it since after every three seconds it’s all completely new.
As Friedrich Nietzsche told us, “the advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.”
I always thought that the fish’s three-second memory sounded like a pretty enviable existence, not to mention the incapacity to feel pain – but now both ideas are being thrown out the window.
Ten years of research by renowned fish expert and lecturer in Biology at Macquarie University, Dr Culum Brown, is showing that fish are as socially adept as monkeys and elephants. He says the three second memory gibe is nothing more than a fishy fallacy and “it's completely ridiculous that an animal could survive without a memory."
As a nine-year-old I remember wondering how my beloved goldfish (named, incidentally, Kurt Cobain) could have no memory of anything more than a few seconds old, yet know how to eat, and seemingly associate my fingers wiggling on the water surface, with food. But such was the potency of the goldfish memory myth; I assumed whatever she seemed to recognise must be intuitive, since she couldn’t remember anything. Poor Kurt died getting stuck behind the tank filter and now I have to live with the knowledge that she probably did experience pain, too. RiP Kurt Cobain.
With doctors and dieticians constantly advising us to eat more seafood, it is an inconvenient truth that eating fish is in fact no more ethically sound than eating any other animal - but that is what recent research is saying.
Animal rights campaigning rarely extends to fish and it is curious that while there is popular support for sparing marine animals like whales and dolphins, there is minimal concern for the treatment of species like tuna. Do we misunderstand living fish because they are so far removed from our daily lives? Do we think that because they don’t express pain in a way we recognise, such as making noise audible to us, they don’t experience it? Is it because we don’t see them as affectionate in any way? Is it simply a tactic to clear our conscience so we can eat our salmon sashimi guilt-free?
Also untrue is the widespread idea that fish have a memory span of three seconds. Again, I would suggest the myth
As Friedrich Nietzsche told us, “the advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.”
I always thought that the fish’s three-second memory sounded like a pretty enviable existence, not to mention the incapacity to feel pain – but now both ideas are being thrown out the window.
Ten years of research by renowned fish expert and lecturer in Biology at Macquarie University, Dr Culum Brown, is showing that fish are as socially adept as monkeys and elephants. He says the three second memory gibe is nothing more than a fishy fallacy and “it's completely ridiculous that an animal could survive without a memory."
As a nine-year-old I remember wondering how my beloved goldfish (named, incidentally, Kurt Cobain) could have no memory of anything more than a few seconds old, yet know how to eat, and seemingly associate my fingers wiggling on the water surface, with food. But such was the potency of the goldfish memory myth; I assumed whatever she seemed to recognise must be intuitive, since she couldn’t remember anything. Poor Kurt died getting stuck behind the tank filter and now I have to live with the knowledge that she probably did experience pain, too. RiP Kurt Cobain.
Quote For The Day:
"Creditors have better
memories than debtors."
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
"Creditors have better
memories than debtors."
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
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Comment by Penster70
Infertility
Smoking
The biggest two causes of death.
1) Over feeding. Goldfish only need to be fed once a day...not three times a day. They can actually survive for up to 14 days without food, which I would not advocate, but those dirty horrible weekend food blocks only rot in their water and help to pollute their suply of oxygen. If you're going away for the weekend they will be fine for a couple of days. Some studies actually say that it helps their digestive system to fast them once a week. Also they are built to go without food for a few days, the ocean is a dog eat dog (or fish eat fish) world and so they are built to survive periods of time without food.
2) Dirty water. Make sure the water is clean, if you have a filter clean it and/or change it. Fish live in their own excrement and the rest... so you must keep the tank clean by changing half to two thirds of the water once a week. Don't change all the water though or it may shock them to a untimely, premature death.
I am glad you called into question their three second memory. I am sure they get excited at 6pm every night when I tap on the tank, say hi, watch them swim and give them food.
Comment by ag
Eat French Bread