How smart are fish ?

Wayne, Wayne...
When I was teaching biology in a CC, I knew better than to argue with lost
causes.
Just to give you an example of your lost cause here is a simple question;
When and where the fish told you all those things?
Now, here is a more complicated question;
Who told fish that they are going to die, God?
Fish are animals not humans like many people would like to think, you for
example.
They act as a response, they are able to learn a response to a stimuli, that
is not intelligence. As I type here and hit the X key, for example, the
computer writes that letter in a way that I can interpret it. Better yet,
if I combine the X with the CTRL key, it will perfom a different task.
Actually, if you use Word for example, it even completes the words for you
or correct your spelling if instructed...
Do you think my laptop is smart or just responding to a stimuli?
lets see!
iy
"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...


Inabón Yunes wrote on 7/23/2006 12:50 AM:
Fish are not intelligent at all, they don't need to be, they have
instincts instead of handling difficult decisions.

Not true.
Fish are able to learn who feeds them, and who doesn't.
Able to learn what the fish food container looks like. Able to recognize
the fridge when someone opens the door, and they will beg for food every
time you open the fridge if they are used to getting frozen food.
Able to learn to come to you when you call them.
And able to learn many other things.

I used to raise fighting chicken. They are territorial and will defend
its domain to the death, literally.
You see, they have no choice, they will respond to a stimuli in the same
way over and over and over again.
So, if they get a response "starter" the reaction will be the same.
In the case of fish, well, they are a couple of steps down from birds in
the evolutionary scale.
They will be triggered by the reflection and will respond in the same way
for ever regardless of self-injury. Remember, animals don't know death
or that their wounds are not going to heal.

Not true.
Fish know when they are dying.

I visited a friend with a similar issue with a fish but he liked the
aggressive reaction of the fish. Well, I visited him two years later and
the same fish was doing the same funny reaction after an illumination
trigger.
But don't worry, as soon as they acknowledge its new "neighbors" as
harmless, they will go around and invest their energy in other things.
Yes they will comeback again but will not stay there for long. In the
other hand, if they associate the other fish with the pain they felt
after the hit, lol, you better change backgrounds.
iy


Fish are a lot smarter than people give them credit for.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets