Fish Are Not Insentient Dullards

Fish Are Not Insentient Dullards

By Ben Goldfarb

Source: nautil

4/26/2023

Credit: Grigorev Mikhail / Shutterstock

The lives of most captive fish are at once boring and bizarre. A zebrafish in a genomics laboratory or an Atlantic salmon in a fish farm generally endures conditions that would be utterly alien to their wild counterparts. The light is blinding, the walls smooth glass or concrete, the floor ungilded by so much as a plant. Even the water lacks the chemical complexity of a river or sea. It’s both a profoundly unnatural existence and, likely, a dull one.

Until recently, those conditions didn’t overly bother too many people. Compared to primates and other lab mammals, fish were perceived as insentient dullards who didn’t require stimulus; as a result, many researchers believed that the logistical challenges of enriching their subjects’ lives outweighed the benefits. But those ways of thinking are being replaced by an appreciation for fishes’ social and cognitive complexity, which raises the question: How do barren environments affect the lives of captive fish? And what might richer ones do for them?

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
3301	Magnet Fishing, a Pandemic Craze, Is Now Creating Trash Problems	wsj	2021-10-17	DE
3302	'Stunned' researchers rescue 4,000-pound sunfish from net	usatoday	2021-10-19	US
3303	Tongue-eating creature found inside fish at Texas state park is the stuff of nightmares	ksat	2021-10-20	US
3304	After 19 fishing deaths in Texas, officials are offering tips for anglers to stay safe	mysanantonio	2021-10-22	US
3305	Algae-purified wastewater used to raise fish	newatlas	2021-10-21	CN
3306	Fly fish angler reels in potential world-record blue catfish in Texas river	ksat	2021-10-21	US
3307	Would you quit your job for $110,000? This California swordfish catcher said no	latimes	2021-10-15	US
3308	Fish farmers 'should face penalties and even criminal charges for mass escapes'	heraldscotland	2021-10-16	UK
3309	Fishing without hooks, rods, reels: This old method still works	The Post and Courier	2021-10-17	US
3310	NJ angler sets new fishing record in landlocked reservoir	Fox News	2021-10-29	US
3311	After poll, lawmakers will propose Lake Erie favorite as Ohio’s state fish	wkbn	2021-10-14	US
3312	Mystery beast with no eyes, ears or mouth stuns diver in depths of the Red Sea	mirror	2021-10-15	EG
3313	U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka cited for fishing without commercial crew license	adn	2021-10-08	US
3314	Parks Commission expands coastal wetland restoration to Boyer’s Creek	Niagara This Week	2019-02-19	CA
3315	Now properly classified, this tiny, translucent fish could help unlock our brains’ secrets	Texas Standard	2021-10-05	US
3316	Fishing record revoked in Connecticut	fox	2021-09-29	US
3317	Fisherman breaks nearly 30-year-old record in Florida	foxnews	2021-10-12	US
3318	Alligator gar caught in Kansas for the first time ever	foxnews	2021-10-13	US
3319	Rare fish, last spotted in Ohio creek in 1957, declared extinct	yahoo	2021-10-06	US
3320	Who or what is killing the bass in Green Lake?	Star Tribune	2021-10-06	US
3321	State backs limited fishing of goliath grouper	fox13	2021-10-06	US
3322	How to Keep a Small Aquarium Without Being Cruel to the Fish	lifehacker	2021-09-27	US
3323	Britain angers France over fishing boat licences	rte	2021-09-28	IE
3324	Fish fertilize corals and seagrasses but not the way you think	flu	2021-09-28	PA
3325	How illegal fishing off Cameroon’s coast worsens maritime security	theconversation	2021-09-29	CM

132 of [218 - pages.]