Posted by EarthSky Voices in Earth | Human World |
April 8, 2021
Image via Xu Wei Chao/ Shutterstock.
You’ve probably heard that fish have a three-second memory, or that they’re incapable of feeling pain. Neither of these statements is true, but it’s telling that these misconceptions don’t crop up for other vertebrates.
Perhaps it’s because fish appear so different from us. They don’t seem to have any capacity for facial expression, or vocal communication, and we don’t even breathe the same air. Collectively, these differences put fish so far away from humans that we struggle to relate to them.