SAYING one has “the memory of a goldfish” is to describe a person who is bad at remembering things. But do these fish really have three seconds worth of memory?
VERDICT:
FALSE
THE next time you want to tell someone they are forgetful, you might want to leave the goldfish’s memory out of it.
A popular myth is that these bright orange fishes only have seconds worth of memory - sometimes, three or even ten seconds but never very long.
However, this belief lacks scientific evidence, according to a summary of research published by the science news website Live Science.
“In reality, goldfish (Carassius auratus) have much longer memories — spanning weeks, months and even years,” said Culum Brown, an expert in fish cognition at Macquarie University in Australia, who was quoted by the website.
A number of studies have proved that goldfish have a good memory, with most of the experiments involving food.
For example, if goldfish are fed at only one side of their tank, they will quickly learn and remember to stay on that side of the tank at feeding times, regardless of whether they are actually fed, Brown said.
"We've known about the reasonably good memories of goldfish since the 1950s and 1960s. Despite what everybody thinks, they're actually really intelligent,” said Brown in the report.
These findings were also recently backed by a team from Oxford University in 2022, as reported by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).
The scientists from the university trained nine fish to travel 70cm and back, receiving a food reward at the end.
“Researchers said it showed the fish could accurately estimate distance. The study disproves the long-held belief goldfish have little or no memory,” read the article on the BBC website.
References:
https://www.livescience.com/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-
