Fun facts about fish

Fish are used in today's culture in a variety of ways, such as pets, recreational fishing, and fish farming. Fish are also essential for the habitats of the ocean, lake, and river systems on which we depend.

Fish are sentient beings, which means they have feelings and can experience both positive and negative emotions, despite popular belief that they lack intellect and emotional capacity.

Read on to find out why fish are such amazing creatures and these amazing fish facts.

Fish are social

Fish communicate with one another and with other fish species to establish relationships. Many species of fish, for example, function as "cleaners" for larger fish. The cleaners benefit from consuming the parasites off the larger fish, which provide food for them, and the "clients" benefit from getting less parasites.

Other fish species cooperate to hunt prey. Groupers and coral trout, for example, will send out a visual signal to alert other fish to the presence of a concealed prey. They would capture more prey if they hunt together than if they hunt alone.

Fish do remember!

Fish, contrary to popular opinion, have outstanding memories. Some fish species are able to identify and recall humans who provide them with food. Cleaner fish, as previously mentioned, will remember the clients they clean on a regular basis, which can number in the hundreds. Clients also recall and recognize their particular cleaner.

Fish can remember musical tunes as well; before releasing their fish into the wild, one group of researchers fed them while playing a particular song. When the song was played at sea five months later, the fish returned.

Fish are smart

Fish will avoid circumstances that they know will cause them discomfort and seek out opportunities that will provide them with rewards. Fish can learn how to use techniques as well. Many fish, for example, eat bivalves such as clams, oysters, and mussels by cracking them open with rocks. The archerfish, in particular, demonstrates a high level of intelligence. They learn how to capture prey items in the air above them by aiming a stream of water at them at the proper volume depending on the size of the target.

Fish are excellent communicators

Despite the fact that fish lack vocal chords, they succeed at interacting with one another. They do this by using a variety of sounds, scents, electrical signals, and movements. Knifefish and elephant fish, for example, can send and receive electrical signals that are used in courtship, navigation, and hunting.

Fish are flexible

Salmon and sea trout can be found in both freshwater and saltwater. These fish are born in freshwater and then migrate to the sea to reach adulthood. They have specialized organs that allow them to adapt to and thrive in both freshwater and saltwater environments.

Fish can migrate extremely far distances

Adult salmon that spend their lives in saltwater migrate thousands of miles to spawn in freshwater. On their spawning journeys, salmon will fly up to 50 kilometers per day, which is the equivalent of us running more than a marathon every day. Their migration from the ocean upstream through freshwater, where they will breed, can be up to 3000 kilometers long. It's the equivalent of driving halfway through Canada!

If salmon weren't such decent swimmers, the migration would be difficult. Swimming upstream is difficult, but salmon are excellent jumpers, capable of leaping up to two meters over obstacles.

Fish have exceptional sensory capabilities

The lateral line, a special row of sensory scales along a fish's body, allows them to sense movement in the water. Low frequency sound waves vibrate through the water, and these sensory scales pick up on them.

Because of their sensory ability, salmon are recognised as one of nature's greatest navigators. Salmon spawn in the same river and, in some cases, the same riverbed where they were born. Magnetic fields and their acute senses direct them. Salmon, which can smell chemicals down to one part per million, are thought to be able to detect pheromones specific to their home stream.

Fish are important to sustaining ecosystems

Salmon are the nutrient backbone of coastal ecosystems in British Columbia. Pacific salmon are semelparous, which means they die after reproducing. Their carcasses are an important source of nutrients for many of BC's resident animals, as well as nutrients for new salmon hatcheries.

Fish can change colour

Fish can also change color depending on their camouflage needs, environmental factors, and the time of year. Colors range from blues and greens to pinks and reds, and all in between.

Fish as farm animals

With over 26 different species of finfish farmed in Canada, finfish are the most significant part of the aquaculture industry. Salmon, salmon, and Arctic Char are the most widely farmed fish species in Canada.

The National Farm Animal Care Council is currently working on Canada's first farmed finfish code of practice. From June to September 2020, a public comment period will be available to the public.