Fascinating Fish Facts II

Fascinating Fish Facts II

Giant Oarfish

Image source:  By Wm. Leo Smith - http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah199704.pdf, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=279543

1. It wasn’t until 1853 in London when aeration and filtration of water was understood, that people were able to keep fish as indoor pets. 

2. The first public aquarium was opened in London (1853), and by 1856 New York also had an aquarium. 

3. The Great Barrier Reef Aquarium is the world’s largest living reef aquarium with 2.5 million (660,430 gal) of water! It is located in Queenshead, Australia. 

4. Today, fresh and saltwater aquarium fish are the most popular pets in the U.S.  Approximately 12 million households own aquariums.

5. The world’s tiniest fish is the Stout Infant, which is about 0.6 cm (0.25 in) long. 

6. The largest fish fossil found to date is from the Leedsichthys problematicus, which lived 150 million years ago. It was found in England in 2003 and measured 22.0 m (72 ft) long.

7. Cavefish have no sight, but can detect movement and odor.

8. American Lobsters have longer life spans than both cats and dogs, living over 20 years.

9. A person who studies fish for a living is called an ichthyologist. 

10.The slowest fish is the seahorse which travels at 0.01 mph.

11.A newly hatched fish is called a "fry".

12.The male seahorse carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch.

13.You can tell how old a fish is by counting the rings on its scales but a more accurate way is to count the rings one of their bones! Called otoliths ('oto’ meaning ear and 'lith'meaning stone), these bones help the fish to keep its balance in the water. An otolith contains a pattern of light and dark rings, just the like the rings on a tree (1 ring = 1 year).

14.The oarfish is the longest bony fish in the world reaching a length of 50 feet.

15.The most poisonous fish is the stonefish. Its poison is powerful enough to kill a human.

Stonefish

Image source: By SeanMack - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=951903

16.A group of herring is sometimes called an army and a group of jelly fish is called a smack.

17.The gurnard, a fish found in Florida, grunts when a thunderstorm is brewing, and it’s said to be more reliable than meteorologists.

18.The average discharge from an electric eel is 350 volts of electricity, but as much as 650 volts have been measured.

19.Named after the biblical figure of Samson who was granted superhuman strength from God, Samson fish are a powerful and large predatory fish of the open water.