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Old October 7th, 2003, 04:41 PM
mr natural
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Default Fish much smarter than we imagined


"John" wrote in message
s.com...
Fish much smarter than we imagined

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[...]

FIRST they dismissed the three-second memory as a goldfish myth. Now
scientists say that as well as being brain food for us, fish use their
brains to find food themselves.

Research by Phil Gee, a psychologist from Plymouth University, has
shown that fish may not be the dunces of the food chain after all.
In a three-month experiment, his research team found they could train
goldfish to collect food at certain times of the day. Fish were taught
to nudge a lever that released food into their bowls. According to the
findings, the goldfish learned to push the lever when they were
hungry. [...]
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If Phil had bothered to ask any aquarist, they could have told him that fish
are easily conditioned. Indeed, even the shrimp and starfish in my reef
aquarium are conditioned. The things that the taxpayers' money get spent on
is mindboggling...