Fishy Facts
Some interesting fishy facts…
- Some starfish can split their bodies in half then grow new legs to make 2 whole starfish – ouch!
- It’s the male seahorse that has the babies – up to 400 at a time!
- Seahorses aren’t very good swimmers so they hide in the seaweed for protection
- Fish have been around for 500 million years, fish were around long before the dinosaurs roamed the earth
- There are about 25,000 different species of fish alive today
- It is estimated that there may still be over 15,000 fish species that have not yet been identified
What is the world’s largest fish and The smallest?
The largest is the whale shark, which grows to more than 50 feet in length and may weigh several tons; second largest is the basking shark, which may measure 35 to 40 feet long. The smallest fish is the tiny goby, an inhabitant of fresh-to-brackish-water lakes in Luzon, Philippines. It seldom is longer than a half inch at adulthood, yet is so abundant it supports a fishery.
Do Fish Sleep?
It all depends on what you mean by sleep. My dictionary says that sleep is a period of rest in which the eyes are closed and there is little or no thought or movement. That is, sleeping means closing your eyes and resting. The first thing we notice is that most fish don’t have eyelids (except for sharks). Also, while some deep ocean fish never stop moving a great many fishes live nearly motionless lives and many do so on a regular diurnal/noctural cycle, some active by day others by night.. So we can’t generalize and say that all fish sleep like we do. But most fish do rest. Usually they just blank their minds and do what we might call daydreaming. Some float in place, some wedge themselves into a spot in the mud or the coral, some even build themselves a nest. They will still be alert for danger, but they will also be “sleeping.”
How is the age of a fish determined?
Mainly by two methods: Growth “rings” on scales, and/or ringlike structures found in otoliths (small bones of the inner ear), are examined and counted. The rings correspond to seasonal changes in the environment and can be compared to the annual rings of tree trunks. A series of fine rings are laid down in scales for each year of life in summer, the rings grow faster and have relatively wide separations; in winter, slower growth is indicated by narrow separations between rings. Each pair of rings indicates one year. Because scale rings are sometimes influenced by other factors, scientists often use otoliths, whose ringlike structures also indicate years of life.
Why do food fish sometimes have a strong odour?
For most species, truly fresh fish is almost odourless. Fish begin to smell “fishy” when deterioration sets in, often caused by incorrect storage practices that bring about the release of oxidized fats and acids through bacterial and enzymatic action.
Family Activity Quiz
The aquarium has been featured as one of the answers in a Family Activity Quiz: https://www.aig.ie/landing-pages/family-activity-quiz. The aim of the quiz is to help time pressed families find something to do for the day.