LIVES
Hidden lives of fish
From: Masako
Miyaji,
fishinghurts.com/feat/fishlives
Dr. Sylvia Earle, one of
the world's leading marine biologists, said, "I never eat anyone I
know personally. I wouldn't deliberately eat a grouper any more
than I'd eat a cocker spaniel. They're so good-natured, so curious.
You know, fish are sensitive, they have personalities, they hurt
when they're wounded."
Many people have never
stopped to think about it, but fish are smart, interesting animals
with their own unique personalities-just like the dogs and cats we
share our homes with. Did you know that fish can learn to avoid
nets by watching other fish in their group and that they can
recognize individual "shoal mates"? Some fish gather information by
eavesdropping on others, and some-such as the South African fish
who lay eggs on leaves so that they can carry them to a safe
place-even use tools.
Scientists are starting
to learn more and more about our finned friends, and their
discoveries are fascinating:
A recent issue of Fish
and Fisheries, devoted to learning, cited more than 500 research
papers on fish intelligence, proving that fish are smart, that they
can use tools, and that they have impressive long-term memories and
sophisticated social structures. The introductory chapter said that
fish are "steeped in social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian
strategies of manipulation, punishment and reconciliation.
exhibiting stable cultural traditions and cooperating to inspect
predators and catch food."
Culum Brown, a
University of Edinburgh biologist who is studying the evolution of
cognition in fish, says, "Fish are more intelligent than they
appear. In many areas, such as memory, their cognitive powers match
or exceed those of 'higher' vertebrates, including non-human
primates." Their long-term memories help fish keep track of complex
social relationships. Their spatial memory-"equal in all respects
to any other vertebrate"-allows them to create cognitive maps that
guide them through their watery homes, using cues such as polarized
light, sounds, smells, and visual landmarks.
Dr. Phil Gee, a
psychologist from the University of Plymouth, says that fish can
tell what time of day it is, and he trained fish to collect food by
pressing a lever at specific times. He says "fish have a memory
span of at least three months," and they "are probably able to
adapt to changes in their circumstances, like any other small
animals and birds."
DID YOU
KNOW?
* Fish talk to each
other with squeaks, squeals, and other low-frequency sounds that
humans can hear only with special instruments.
* Fish like to be
touched and often gently rub against one another-like a cat weaving
in and out of your legs.
* Some fish tend
well-kept gardens, encouraging the growth of tasty algae and
weeding out the types they don't like.
* Like birds, many fish
build nests where they raise their babies; others collect little
rocks off the seafloor to make hiding places where they can
rest.
* Some fish woo
potential partners by singing to them, but male sand gobies, tiny
fish who live along the European coast, play "Mr. Mom," building
and guarding nests and fanning the eggs with their fins to create a
current of fresh, oxygenated water.
Being Hooked
Hurts!
A two-year study
conducted by scientists at Edinburgh University and the Roslin
Institute in the United Kingdom proved what many marine biologists
have been saying for years: Fish feel pain, just as all animals do.
Anglers may not like to think about it, but fish suffer when they
are impaled in the mouth and pulled into an environment in which
they cannot breathe. Said Dr. Lynne Sneddon, who headed the recent
study, "Really, it's kind of a moral question. Is your angling more
important than the pain to the fish?" If you fish or know someone
who does, click here to learn more.
Faux Fish or No
Fish
Fish suffer horribly on
the journey from sea to supermarket. Commercial fishing boats use
huge nets, some stretching for miles, which swallow up
everything-and everyone-in their paths. Fish come out of the nets
with their skin scraped completely raw from being forced to rub up
against rocks, debris-and other fish-trapped with
them.
Fish flesh is frequently
contaminated with mercury (which can cause brain damage) and toxic
chemicals like DDT, PCBs and dioxin (which have been linked to
cancer, nervous system disorders, and fetal damage), as well as
disease-causing bacteria. Why not try faux fish instead? Vegetarian
products like Worthington's Tuno (available in health food stores)
and mock lobster, shrimp, and crab (available online) have all the
taste of the "real "thing" - but none of the cruelty or
contaminants.
* . * . *
"A man who has in mind an apparent
advantage and promptly proceeds to dissociate this from the
question of what is right shows himself to be mistaken and immoral.
Such a standpoint is the parent of assassinations, poisonings,
forged wills, thefts, malversations of public money, and the
ruinous exploitation of provincials and Roman citizens alike.
Another result is passionate desire - desire for excessive wealth,
for unendurable tyranny, and ultimately for the despotic seizure of
free states. These desires are the most horrible and repulsive
things imaginable. The perverted intelligences of men who are
animated by such feelings are competent to understand the material
rewards, but not the penalties. I do not mean penalties established
by law, for these they often escape. I mean the most terrible of
all punishments: their own degradation."Marcus Tullius
Cicero (106-43
B.C.)