Paul B
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Reef Tank 365
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Rock Pool Reef Keepers
Why do I say that fish are smarter than us? Well think about it, we as 2 legged beings can go forward, backward and from side to side. Fish can do that too, but they can also go up and down, and they can do that just by thinking about it and barely moving a fin. If we get up in the middle of the night because we hear a noise or are thinking about that Victoria Secret catalog on the table (not that we would look at something like that, I am just using that as an example and I know if you ever did look at it, it would purely be for research) But whatever the reason, we would run into walls, doors, windows and the lucky few of us may run into a beautiful cat burgler. But a fish would not run (or swim) into anything. Why? Because they have a lateral line that lets them know what is around them even in pitch darkness. Ever wonder why you could never catch a fish by chasing it with a net? If someone ran after you with a net, I bet they would catch you.
Everybody here who has a lateral line raise your hand, Higher. Thats what I thought.
Fish can do something else that "most" of us can't do. They can change sex. Then, if they get bored, they can change back. If we do that, it is very painful, (I would imagine) only works one time, is very expensive and leaves scars, (I think anyway, not that I know anything about that or am judging anyone)
I have some fireclown fish, well I had one for a long time and I decided to get another one.
That first one was either male or female, I have no idea, But then again I rode the Long Island Railroad for 40 years and many times I wasn't sure if I was next to a man or woman, but I digress. This fireclown sat there in a broken bottle for years and just looked out the glass at me. He (or she)kept guard over a nest and he would keep it neat, blow away detritus along with arrow crab poop. And there wasn't even another fireclown for, Oh I don't know 15 miles (I am guessing) Then one day I added another fireclown and they both fought. I don't know if they both thought of themselves as boys, girls or politicians, but then after a few years they started becoming friends, then they were more then friends if you know what I mean. So one of them became a female. Now I don't know what posessed that one to change into a female but I do remember walking in front of the tank in my underware, I don't know if that would have caused the transformation, my wife just tells me to get away from in front of the TV.
So fish are not as stupid as we think. If you had no thumbs to hold a pencil, how well do you think you would do on standardized tests?
Fish can do many things that we can't do. If we put some food in the tank, they will find it right away, I can't even find anything my wife puts in the refrigerator.
If a fish loses an eye, he barely notices and goes about his life as if he just had Lazac surgery. They get along fine just by relying on their lateral line. Fish don't even have to sleep, if we go like 3 days with out sleep we start halucinating about Paris Hilton or worse, her dog, but if you leave the lights on, a fish will just stay awake and, Oh I don't know, think about changing sex.
Another wierd thing about fish is that tropical fish for the most part are beautifully colored, why is that? Is it to attract a mate? to scare predators? to look good in magazines? No. Why? because where fish live the only color you can see is blue. If you decend down in the ocean about 40' everything becomes blue because blue is the only color of the srectrum that gets through that much water. (It is either 30' 40' or something like that, I am a diver but I never take a rueller with me and I forgot the depth that colors disappear, work with me)
So all fish appear blue in the sea. A copperband butterfly would be blue with darker blue bands, and red appears black. (I got a moray eel story with blood and all so if you didn't hear it, remind me) So their color is a mystery. The fish probably know why they have those colors but no one else does.
Also while we are seriously thinking about this, why do fish from temperate (or cold water) have drab colors?
Ever see a bright red or blue flounder with yellow stripes? I didn't think so, but why? I don't know but I bet you never thought about it. I did.
Why are there no copperband butterflies in Florida? You would think with all the bilge water from ships some of them would get here as invasive species. But no, what do we get for invasive species? Snakeheads that eat everything imaginable, carp, that invaded every river, stream, brook, lake, sink, bathtub and coffee pot everywhere in the world. Those things could live on a damp sponge. Zebra mussles that clog pipes and taste like snot, Japanese shore crabs that invaded every square inch of coastline on the eastern US, lionfish that are eating all the small native fish. So why can't we get invasive copperband butterflies, square anthias, sailfin tangs, bangai cardinals, Swedish massage therapists?
This is just one more thing I don't know. There is a whole plethora of things I don't know. An unimaginal vast expanse of knowledge I don't posess. I mean we could go on about what is at the end of the universe and we would all have different opinions, sort of like ich threads. I think at the end of the universe is a brick wall with tar paper on top of it, and beyond that are strawberry fields forever. Prove me wrong.
I guess we should save some room for your thoughts and then we could start on why invertabrates are smarter than we are.
I took this in Tahiti in maybe 60' of water. Notice how all those beautiful corals are blue as well as that Moorish Idol at the bottom and even the sharks. If you shine a light on them they become colorful
Notice where the light is hitting that there is color, look at the lack of colors where the light does not hit. This was the same reef with a flash
Everybody here who has a lateral line raise your hand, Higher. Thats what I thought.
Fish can do something else that "most" of us can't do. They can change sex. Then, if they get bored, they can change back. If we do that, it is very painful, (I would imagine) only works one time, is very expensive and leaves scars, (I think anyway, not that I know anything about that or am judging anyone)
I have some fireclown fish, well I had one for a long time and I decided to get another one.
That first one was either male or female, I have no idea, But then again I rode the Long Island Railroad for 40 years and many times I wasn't sure if I was next to a man or woman, but I digress. This fireclown sat there in a broken bottle for years and just looked out the glass at me. He (or she)kept guard over a nest and he would keep it neat, blow away detritus along with arrow crab poop. And there wasn't even another fireclown for, Oh I don't know 15 miles (I am guessing) Then one day I added another fireclown and they both fought. I don't know if they both thought of themselves as boys, girls or politicians, but then after a few years they started becoming friends, then they were more then friends if you know what I mean. So one of them became a female. Now I don't know what posessed that one to change into a female but I do remember walking in front of the tank in my underware, I don't know if that would have caused the transformation, my wife just tells me to get away from in front of the TV.
So fish are not as stupid as we think. If you had no thumbs to hold a pencil, how well do you think you would do on standardized tests?
Fish can do many things that we can't do. If we put some food in the tank, they will find it right away, I can't even find anything my wife puts in the refrigerator.
If a fish loses an eye, he barely notices and goes about his life as if he just had Lazac surgery. They get along fine just by relying on their lateral line. Fish don't even have to sleep, if we go like 3 days with out sleep we start halucinating about Paris Hilton or worse, her dog, but if you leave the lights on, a fish will just stay awake and, Oh I don't know, think about changing sex.
Another wierd thing about fish is that tropical fish for the most part are beautifully colored, why is that? Is it to attract a mate? to scare predators? to look good in magazines? No. Why? because where fish live the only color you can see is blue. If you decend down in the ocean about 40' everything becomes blue because blue is the only color of the srectrum that gets through that much water. (It is either 30' 40' or something like that, I am a diver but I never take a rueller with me and I forgot the depth that colors disappear, work with me)
So all fish appear blue in the sea. A copperband butterfly would be blue with darker blue bands, and red appears black. (I got a moray eel story with blood and all so if you didn't hear it, remind me) So their color is a mystery. The fish probably know why they have those colors but no one else does.
Also while we are seriously thinking about this, why do fish from temperate (or cold water) have drab colors?
Ever see a bright red or blue flounder with yellow stripes? I didn't think so, but why? I don't know but I bet you never thought about it. I did.
Why are there no copperband butterflies in Florida? You would think with all the bilge water from ships some of them would get here as invasive species. But no, what do we get for invasive species? Snakeheads that eat everything imaginable, carp, that invaded every river, stream, brook, lake, sink, bathtub and coffee pot everywhere in the world. Those things could live on a damp sponge. Zebra mussles that clog pipes and taste like snot, Japanese shore crabs that invaded every square inch of coastline on the eastern US, lionfish that are eating all the small native fish. So why can't we get invasive copperband butterflies, square anthias, sailfin tangs, bangai cardinals, Swedish massage therapists?
This is just one more thing I don't know. There is a whole plethora of things I don't know. An unimaginal vast expanse of knowledge I don't posess. I mean we could go on about what is at the end of the universe and we would all have different opinions, sort of like ich threads. I think at the end of the universe is a brick wall with tar paper on top of it, and beyond that are strawberry fields forever. Prove me wrong.
I guess we should save some room for your thoughts and then we could start on why invertabrates are smarter than we are.
I took this in Tahiti in maybe 60' of water. Notice how all those beautiful corals are blue as well as that Moorish Idol at the bottom and even the sharks. If you shine a light on them they become colorful
Notice where the light is hitting that there is color, look at the lack of colors where the light does not hit. This was the same reef with a flash
LOL
better yet i want a study done cuz flatworms might be our relatives 
