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?

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News Id		Source	Stamp	country
4301	Fishing film nets documentary prize	BBC News	2011-10-12	UK
4302	Manhattan man charged after dropping detergent in fish tank, killing fish and coral	ksnt	2021-03-10	US
4303	New Mexico teen catches possibly record breaking fish, releases it before getting official weight	Fox News	2021-03-07	US
4304	No fish tale: Missouri angler catches huge invasive black carp	fox2now	2021-03-09	US
4305	Norway's salmon rot as China takes revenge for dissident's Nobel Prize	independent	2011-10-23	UK
4306	Research Finds Fish Behavior May Seal Their Fate	underwatertimes	2011-10-04	CA
4307	The World's Largest Floating Fish Factory	gizmodo	2011-10-03	US
4308	Pros Carr, Bradley Qualify For Bassmaster WS National Championship	underwatertimes	2011-10-02	CA
4309	Mystery of Canada's missing salmon continues	nature	2011-09-28	CA
4310	Illusion Of Plenty' Masking Fish Population Collapse Off California Coast	Underwatertimes	2011-09-27	US
4311	Wind Whips Angler Teddy Carr At Oneida Lake	Underwatertimes	2011-09-24	US
4312	Study Finds Aquarium Fishes Are More Aggressive In Reduced Environments	underwatertimes	2011-09-23	US
4313	Small Fish Recover Faster Than Large Fish	Underwatertimes	2011-09-21	US
4314	The Science Behind the Fishy Smell in Smelly Fish	miaminewtimes	2011-09-20	CA
4315	Anglers Bradley, Carr Land Enough Fish To Qualify For Regional Bassmaster Event	underwatertimes	2011-09-19	US
4316	Bay of Fundy farmed salmon found in rivers	CBC News	2011-09-16	CA
4317	Fish shrinkage probed in lab	BBC News	2011-09-18	NO
4318	Salmon And Other Fish Predators Rely On No Guts, No Glory Survival Tactic	underwatertimes	2011-09-15	US
4319	Climate change boon to UK seafood	BBC News	2011-09-15	UK
4320	World's largest fishing lure, at 355 pounds, is a real whopper	petethomasoutdoors	2011-09-13	US
4321	Ancient Toothy Fish Found in Arctic—Giant Prowled Rivers	National Geographic News	2011-09-12	US
4322	The World's Worst Place To Catch Fish	Underwatertimes	2011-09-07	US
4323	Colossal Aggregations Of Giant Alien Freshwater Fish As A Potential Biogeochemical Hotspot	Underwatertimes	2011-10-06	GE
4324	Iceland joins alliance to tackle ‘ghost’ fishing gear abandoned at sea	thegrocer	2021-03-10	UK
4325	Dozens change name to salmon	Taipei Times	2021-03-18	TW

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