Pet fish Facts

Well here you go, some interesting facts about tropical fish. You never know you might learn someting new (I certainly did).

1. Catfish have over 27, 000 taste buds. Humans have around 7, 000.
2. Fish use a variety of low-pitched sounds to convey messages to each other. They moan, grunt, croak, boom, hiss, whistle, creak, shriek, and wail. They rattle their bones and gnash their teeth. However, fish do not have vocal chords. They use other parts of their bodies to make noises, such as vibrating muscles against their swim bladder.
3. Fish can form schools containing millions of fish. They use their eyes and something called a lateral line to hold their places in the school. The lateral line is a row of pores running along the fish’s sides from head to tail. Special hairs in the pores sense changes in water pressure from the movements of other fish or predators.
4. Since a fish’s jaw is not attached to its skull, many fishes can shoot their mouths forward like a spring to catch startled prey.
5. Electric eels and electric rays have enough electricity to kill a horse.
6. Fish have sleep-like periods where they have lowered response to stimuli, slowed physical activity, and reduced metabolism but they do not share the same changes in brain waves as humans do when they sleep.
7. Most fish have taste buds all over their body.
8. A fish does not add new scales as it grows, but the scales it has increase in size. In this way, growth rings are formed and the rings reveal the age of a fish.
9. A ship has a heavy keel in the lower part to keep it from capsizing. Fish, on the other hand, have the keel on top. If the paired fins stop functioning to keep the fish balanced, the fish turns over because its heaviest part tends to sink, which happens when it dies.
10. A fish can drown in water. Like humans, fish need oxygen, so if there isn’t enough oxygen in the water, they will suffocate.
11. The fish in the middle of a school control the school. The fish on the outside are guided by those in the middle. Only bony fish can swim in highly coordinated groups.
12. Most fish cannot swim backwards. Those that can are mainly members of one of the eel families.
13. Fish would suffocate if they tried to chew because chewing would interfere with water passing over their gills.
14. The most poisonous fish in the world is the stone fish. Its sting can cause shock, paralysis, and even death if not treated within a few hours.
15. The word “piranha” is from the Tupi (Brazil) pira nya and means “scissors.” Found in freshwater rivers in South America, piranhas have razor-sharp teeth. They typically eat fish, insects, seeds, fruit, and even larger animals such as horses. While there are no proven reports of piranhas killing a person, they do eat human carcasses.
16. There are approximately 32, 000 different kinds of fish in the world today, which is more than all the other kinds of vertebrates combined. Scientists are discovering new species all the time.
17. Sometimes tornadoes pick up fish while traveling over water and carry them over land, where the fish rain down. These “fish showers” have been happening for thousands of years. Roman writer Pliny the Younger describes this phenomenon in the 1st century A.D.
18. Scientists have explored only 1% of the ocean depths. They believe millions of new kinds of animals and fish are down there, waiting to be discovered.
19. Humans have been amazed for centuries that salmon, after journeying across the ocean, can find the river where they were born. In the Yukon River in Alaska and in Canada, certain tagged Chinook salmon covered nearly 2, 000 miles in 60 days. Salmon also have adapted to live in a variety of aquatic environments, including rivers, lakes, estuaries, coal reefs, and the open sea.
20. Fish were the first vertebrates with bony skeletons to appear on Earth. Unlike today’s fish, early fish had no scales, fins, or jawbone, but they did have a dorsal fin.
21. 40% of all fish species inhabit fresh water, yet less than .01% of the earth’s water is fresh water.
22. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
23. It is estimated that there may still be over 15, 000 fish species that have not yet been identified.
24. Fish have been on the earth for more than 450 million years.
25. Fish were well established long before dinosaurs roamed the earth.
26. Some fish like sharks don’t posses an air bladder to help keep them afloat and
    must either swim continually or rest on the bottom.
27. Some fish make sounds by grating their teeth and others like some catfish make
    sounds from their air filled swim bladder.
28. Fish have a specialized sense organ called the lateral line which works much
    like radar and helps them navigate in dark or murky water.
29. The largest fish is the great whale shark which can reach fifty feet in length.
30. Fish feel pain and suffer stress just like mammals and birds.
31. Tropical fish are one of the most popular pets in the U.S.
32. Many tropical fish sold in the United States are harvested from the wild in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.
33. There are two types of Angel fish, Freshwater (Pterophyllum) and Marine
    (Pomacanthidae)
34. Angelfish can become aggressive towards other fish and even eat smaller fish
    such as Neon Tetras!
35. Angelfish breed for life. If one of the pair dies, the other will not breed
    again!
36. Angelfish are intelligent and can recognise their owners!
37. The Freshwater Angelfish is a member of the Cichlidae (Cichlid’s) family
38. The scientific name for Angelfish is Pterophyllum which is derived from the
    Greek word for “winged leaf”
39. Angelfish can live for up to 15 years
40. The freshwater Angelfish is triangular in shape; it is thought this makes it
    easier for them to hide from predators amongst the aquariums plants
41. Definition: An eel (Anguilliformes) is a voracious snake-like marine or
    freshwater Fish with smooth slimy and usually scaleless skin. They have strong
    jaws with sharp teeth.
42. Moray eels are 4-5 feet long and are found in tropical salt water – they have
    powerful jaws and sharp teeth
43. Electric Eels: The electric eel are so called as they are able to generate an
    electric current of up to 650 volts
44. The Green Moray is the most common eel
45. The Red Bellied Piranha has the most fearsome reputation
46. Piranhas have razor sharp teeth which they use to puncture their victim and
    strip away the flesh!
47. There are no confirmed human deaths caused by Piranhas! They have however been
    known to attack dead bodies
48. Movies such as Piranha, Piranha, Piranha 3D and Piranha 3DD have not helped the
    reputation of the Piranha depicting it as a human killer!
49. The 1967 James Bond Film, ‘You Only Live Twice’ starring Sean Connery showed a
    woman being thrown into a Piranha Pool!
50. Piranhas are attracted by noise, splashing and blood!
51. There are over 70 species of rainbow fish