Can fish be racist? haha

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ss720

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 20, 2005
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Stupid question, but can fish be racist?

As in, if they are the same species, but discriminate or show aggression if they are of different color?
Say a group of discus that are all red, but there is one blue and they reject him/her based on the colour of the scales, wouldn't that be racist?

I'm not asking if discus are racist, but i'm using them as an example.
 
Stupid question, but can fish be racist?

As in, if they are the same species, but discriminate or show aggression if they are of different color?
Say a group of discus that are all red, but there is one blue and they reject him/her based on the colour of the scales, wouldn't that be racist?

I'm not asking if discus are racist, but i'm using them as an example.

LOL

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People may laugh, but a couple of years ago I read an article in The Journal of Fish Biology that stated such a finding:

They discovered that when determining sexual preference between normal and albino white cloud minnows, the males preferred one color and the females preferred another. I don't remember who preferred albinos and who liked the wild types, but they were totally opposite on a sex-basis.

Color can also be a signal to conspecifics. Three-spine stickleback males will develop red coloration around the gills during breeding season. The red coloration promotes aggression in other males, and attracts females. Models and other red-colored objects can also elicit a similar response.

I used to have a leopard puffer that was DEATHLY afraid of the color red. Walk into the room with a red shirt and he would try to jump out of the tank. We tried putting an orange chromide with him before we noticed the pattern...and soon after we had to remove it. No aggression noted either lol.

Big predatory reef fish won't eat cleaner wrasses. That's why the false cleaner wrasse (nearly identical) is able to get close to big fish and bite chunks out of them.

So color matters to fish for one reason or another. I wouldn't call it racist because across the animal kingdom colors are used for a variety of signals and other reasons; but groups of fish, species of fish, and even individuals do seem to have color preferences for one reason or another, whether it's biological or environmentally-induced.
 
Thanks for the reply!

I'll see if I can find that article you mentioned.

That fish can associate certain colors with an emotion is facsinating.
 
Np!

Just a word of warning, "emotion" is a strong word in the animal kingdom, as it implies conscious thought in most cases. With a "lower" vertebrate such as a fish most biologists would say that certain colors can "elicit a response". I'm not saying fish don't have emotions, but those terms can get a little sticky in the scientific community. It's that border of anthropomorphism that us pet owners always teeter-on.

That being said, higher vertebrates such as dogs are considered to have emotions in my mind.

And I know I have called hundreds of tangs and other fish "drama queens" when they're lying on their side in a bucket!

Here's sort-of a summary from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_in_animals
 
Thanks, I should get the terminology right, I am after all going to go to Biologi at the University.

Again, I appriciate the information, and pardon my english, it's my third language (farsi, norwegian, english) and i rely on auto-correct on my phone to get certain words spelled right, like appriciation...i don't think it's spelled right..(im on pc now).
 
I would agree with pomatomus. There is a reason that males of most fish species (and even many birds) are brightly colored.. Take betas for example. The more brightly colored ones tend to get the chicks :P.
 
I would agree with pomatomus. There is a reason that males of most fish species (and even many birds) are brightly colored.. Take betas for example. The more brightly colored ones tend to get the chicks :P.

Brb painting my body....
 
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