[..Michelle..]

FACT OF THE DAY:

Can fish see colours?

According to an article published by Mepps ® fish do not have an innate desire for any particular color. However, some colors under various water and light conditions are more easily seen, which makes color a critical factor for some fish. Migrating fish like Shad or Salmon have eye receptors readily adapted to see green in the ocean and red during spawning, but will strike spinners and lures of any color if they can be seen. So color can and often is a prime mechanism for determining how spinners and lures will contrast with their background. In other words, color can make spinners and lures easily seen, or can camouflage the same spinners and lures making them invisible to fish.



THIS HAS BEEN YOUR RANDOM USELESS FACT OF THE DAY! ENJOY IT AS YOU WISH!

[..Jessica..]

I didn't know that! I'm liking the Fact Of The Day!

[klt]

Hmmm. Who knew? I wonder if fish care if there is a little castle to swim through in their tank...my understanding is that they can swim through it all day and not remember that they've already been there. Sounds like some of my days!

[..Michelle..]

Kelty - I don't know where this crazy legend came from that fish can only remember for five seconds or three seconds or something similar.
Fish are not exactly geniuses by human standards, but once they've learned something, they tend to remember it for a long time.
I don't know if anyone has ever tested the maximum amount of time a fish can remember something, but it seems reasonable to suppose that they can remember some things for their whole lives, just as we can. Since some fish live for more than 100 years, that's a long time.

PS- This FOTD was for Sam since she likes to fish and tie flies.....apparently the colour may or may not matter! Nice pic in the magazine btw!