OhFact!

20 Interesting Facts About Fish

1. The oldest inhabitors on Earth

Fishes have been

present on Earth for the last 450 million years. They were present long before
the Dinosaurs roamed the earth.
2. The lipsticks connection!

Well, ladies, give thanks

to the fishes as your precious component of makeup, the lipsticks, contain
fish scale which contributes to your sassy look.
3. Fishes have taste buds all over their body
 Did you know that
fishes have the ability to taste without even opening their mouth?
This truly is amazing.
4. Fishes are counter shaded

Electric blue fish

To be less visible in the water, most fishes are counter shaded. They are
darker on top, lighter or silver on their sides and brightest on their bellies.
5. Lots of Fishy things!
 Fishes are found in more species
than all the other species of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
combined. There are approximately 32,000 different kinds of fishes.
6. Special fish radar helps in navigation

Fishes have a special

sense organ, the lateral line which is like radar and helps fishes to navigate in
dark or murky water.
7. Fishes can apparently change sex
 Some fishes are
known to change their sex during their life. That is purely strange, isn’t it?
8. Some fishes need to swim continuously

Sharks and
some other fishes do not possess air bladder which helps them to keep afloat.
Therefore, they must keep swimming continuously or rest on the bottom.
9. Fishes have great senses
 Regal queen
Fishes are supposed to have an excellent sense of touch, taste and sight.
Some even have a good sense of hearing and smell. And what is more
intriguing is that fish can feel pain and experience stress just like other
mammals and birds.
10. Fishes can drown

It would be weird to say that

fishes can drown, but that can happen. If there is not enough oxygen
dissolved in the water, they can be drowned.
11. Fishes cannot Chew
 Fishes could suffocate
and die if they tried to chew because chewing would interfere with their
passing of water over their gills.
12. Deadly Puffer Fish

The Puffer Fish

A special kind of fish, Puffer fish, contains enough poison to kill 30 people.
The toxin found in this fish is 1200 times deadlier than the Cyanide.
13. Fishes make lot of noises even without vocal cords
 Fishes make a lot
of noises to convey their messages. Even though they don’t have vocal cords,
they use other parts to moan, grunt, boom, hiss, creak, shriek and wail.
14. Rain of Fish

Rain of fish Festival, Yoro

A curious event of “RAIN OF FISH” occurs every year in the city Yoro in
Honduras where hundreds of fishes rain from the sky.
15. A fish can change its sex!
 In a recent
research, it was found out that about one-third of male fishes in British rivers
are changing sex due to sewage and pollution in the rivers.
16. A fish that can live without water!

Lungfish can live

without water for several days. It can survive on land because it has both
gills and a lung. It takes in air with its lung through a tube (called breathing
tube) that leads to the surface.
17. Some fishes are not fish!
 Though their names suggest that they
are fish, they don’t belong to the fish family and the reason is that they don’t
possess the required features to be the fish. Fish have bones, gills, and scales
while the Starfish and Jellyfish don’t have bones, gills, and scales.
source: toxicm16.imascientist.org.uk, image: hearthsong.com

18. A fish can beat your car!

If
you proud on your car-speed then hold for a moment as the Sailfish can beat
your car. the Indo-Pacific Sailfish, Istiophorus platypterus, is considered
world’s fastest fish with an average speed of 110 km/hr.
source: thetravelalmanac.com

19. Now, the slowest fish!

 Seahorses move so
slowly that one can barely notice and that’s the feature, which makes them
the slowest fish in the world.
source: factretriever.com

20. “Fish” and “Fishes” are two different things!

We use the term ‘Fish’ when we refer to only one species of fish like 10 Shark
are 10 fish while the term ‘Fishes’ is used when we refer more than one
species like 10 Shark, 2 Salmon, and 4 Trout are 16 fishes.
source: factretriever.com