| Science says fish have no power of hearing. But | | | | up and nursed their noses. The observer waited two |
| those in attendance during a nighttime aquarium | | | | days more, then removed the glass partition. The |
| observation thought differently...and had it | | | | perch, discovering, one by one, that there was no |
| demonstrated to them. The fish were fed at a regular | | | | longer a barrier there, began to swim about among the |
| hour in the afternoon. They knew this hour (therefore | | | | minnows, but so thorough had been the lesson learned, |
| they must have a time sense) and grew as lively and | | | | the association of nose bumping with minnows, that |
| restless as a lion at the Zoo. At an hour when they did | | | | they did not chase them. |
| not expect to be fed and were swimming tranquilly, | | | | "When this memory had gradually faded," said the |
| the feeder slipped around behind the tank, leaving me | | | | observer, "they preyed upon the minnows as before." |
| in front to watch. He walked along the alleyway, as he | | | | If now meditated upon, the interesting theory is that |
| does many time, a day. The fishes gave no sign of | | | | animals do not have our color sense, but see ultraviolet |
| hearing his foot, steps. Then he rattled, once, the | | | | rays. Again this gives food for thought. If the grouper |
| handle of the pail out of which he feeds them. The fish | | | | sees a red rock as ultra-violet, why does his prey, the |
| rose instantly swam about in circles, looking up toward | | | | octopus, take the trouble to turn red when he settles |
| the light from whence the keeper's hand and arm | | | | on a red rock? As I locked the aquarium doors, and |
| should appear. | | | | groped my way sleepily over the moonlit coral rock. I |
| This response to vibration, whether it hits a tympanum | | | | remembered a long-forgotten song of my |
| or a sensitized skin region, does not alter the evident | | | | childhood-that childhood in which one knew and did not |
| fact that fishes respond to familiar sound. Do fishes | | | | have to reason about the consciousness of fishes. |
| learn from experience? A very amusing experiment | | | | "Oh hush thee my baby, the night is behind us, And |
| was made on this point. A fish tank full of water was | | | | black are the billows that sparkled so green. The moon |
| divided down the center with a clear glass partition. On | | | | o'er the combers looks downward to find us, asleep in |
| one side minnows were placed; on the other, perch, | | | | the hollows that rustle between. Where billow meets |
| which prey upon minnows. The perch immediately | | | | billow, there soft is thy pillow, oh weary wee flipperling, |
| went for the minnows, bumping their noses repeatedly | | | | curl at thine ease. No storm shall awake thee, no shark |
| against the glass partition, which, it is interesting to note, | | | | overtake thee, asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging |
| they could not see. After two days of this they gave | | | | seas. |
