fish news and research
For all the millennia that humans have been studying fish, it is surprising how much we still continue to learn about them.
Fish really do sleep [link]
"Researchers have now been able to show not only that the fish sleep, but that they can suffer from sleep deprivation and insomnia. Those fish that had suffered a disturbed night were found to catch up on their sleep as soon as the opportunity arose."
Newly discovered fish is world's smallest vertebrate [link]
"Lurking beneath the dark, acidic waters of south-east Asia's peat swamps lies a strange creature with a slender body, beady eyes and muscular fins that can grab unsuspecting passersby. And measuring no longer than a fingernail, it is officially the world's smallest vertebrate."
New species of tetra named in Brazil [link]
"Moenkhausia cosmops, named after its distinctive head colour (from the Greek kosmos, meaning ornament or decoration and opos or ops, meaning face or countenance), is known only from tributaries in the Paraguai and Tapajós river drainages in central Brazil."
Pollution causing sex-change in one-third of British fish [link]
"Hormones in the sewage, including those produced by the female contraceptive pill, are thought to be the main cause."
Most fish likely have vivid color vision [link]
"The common goldfish certainly sees in color and many more at least have the necessary nervous system elements for color vision to be present."