GOLDFISH are famous for their forgetfulness, but other fish come top of the
class in memory tests. The Australian crimson spotted rainbowfish (
Melanotaenia duboulayi) can remember an escape route for nearly a
year—half its lifetime.
Culum Brown of Edinburgh University swept a trawl net towards shoals of five
rainbowfish in a tank to simulate an approaching predator. After repeated
trials, the fish learned to head for the only escape route—a hole in the
middle of the net. Surprisingly, they remembered the route almost as well 11
months later. “That’s a very long time for such a short-lived fish,”…
