How Smart Are Goldfish, and Do They Really Have a Three-Second Memory?

TL;DR

Goldfish do not have a three-second memory, they can retain learned associations and environmental information for months or even a year. Experiments show that they recognize feeding cues, form mental maps, navigate mazes, escape through a learned opening and anticipate when food becomes available. Read on to discover how researchers tested these surprisingly sophisticated abilities.

Transcript

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Key Insights

• "and goldfish as it turns out have far better memories than most give them credit for" (1:01)
• "indeed the fish were able to remember the brick up to a month later" (3:04)
• "other experiments have shown that goldfish possess impressive spatial reasoning abilities and can retain information about their environment for six months or more" (3:20)
• "they are in fact able to form sophisticated mental maps of their surroundings and use these to navigate and locate reliable food sources" (4:05)
• "if you put the fish aside and test them a year later they still remember exactly where the escape route is" (4:48)

Questions & Answers

Q: Do goldfish really have a three-second memory?

No. Goldfish remembered a feeding cue for up to a month, retained environmental information for six months or more and recalled an escape route a year after learning it.

Q: How long can goldfish remember things?

The duration depends on the task and reinforcement. The transcript describes memories lasting up to a month for a feeding cue, at least six months for maze navigation and a year for the location of an escape route.

Q: Can goldfish recognize a signal associated with food?

Yes. Rory Stokes trained goldfish to associate a red-yellow brick with food, and they began appearing as soon as it was dropped into the tank. After a week without the brick, they still remembered the association, which lasted up to a month.

Q: Can goldfish navigate mazes?

Yes. Tests with transparent and visually screened mazes showed that goldfish can use external visual cues to navigate and locate reliable food sources. Six months after training, they completed the mazes more than twice as quickly as when first introduced.

Q: Do goldfish learn only through trial and error?

No. The maze experiments indicated that goldfish can form sophisticated mental maps of their surroundings instead of relying only on trial and error and rote memorization. They could retain those maps for months, although the long-term memory depended on reinforcement after one month.

Q: Can goldfish remember how to escape a net?

Yes. In Callum Brown's experiment, goldfish learned the location of a small escape route in a simulated trawling net in about five trials. When tested a year later, they still remembered exactly where it was.

Q: Can goldfish tell time?

Goldfish can learn that food is available during a particular daily period. In Phil Gee's experiment, they learned to press a lever for food and adjusted their activity after the lever's working window was narrowed to a single hour each day.

Q: Where did goldfish originate as ornamental fish?

Goldfish were bred in China for thousands of years, initially as food. A bright yellow or gold mutation emerged during the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420 A.D., and those fish were then selectively bred for ornamental ponds.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Goldfish were originally bred in China for use in ornamental ponds and became popular as pets in Europe and the United States.

• The myth that goldfish have a three-second memory is widespread but easily disproven through experiments and studies.

• Research has shown that goldfish possess impressive memory and cognitive abilities, including associating stimuli with rewards, forming mental maps, and learning through trial and error.