Can fish taste food?

[Fish_Admirer17]

I am just curious on what the experts think on this one coz whenever I feed my fish, a small part of me is thinking, "MMmmm that must taste good" Specially how the fish eagerly munch up and devour their food with much enthusiasm...So I want to know if they can really taste their food, if they have a tongue or any similar sense organ which detects taste, or since they just swallow food and can't really chew because of their jaws lacking the ability to move side to side and can only move up and down, do they simply get the satisfaction of eating from feeling the food running down their throats and filling their stomachs..I know they must have some organ which distinguishes what is edible or what food they like to eat and which ones they despise but does that organ distinguish it by taste? Just curious guys....

 

[Reptilesfishbirdsmammals]

well if you ask me first of all thats a great question, but fish can taste cause i mean they have taste buds in there mouth as much as we do as id assume so yes.

 

[Fish_Admirer17]

oh i didn't know that man..However i observed that aros have a tongue..i could be wrong..anybody else?

 

[12 Volt Man]

sure they can. many fish show a preference for one food over another.

Its got to be because one tastes better than the other.

 

[Madding]

Most animals can taste but many of them cannot taste certain things that we can, such as sweetness.

 

[FishingOut]

When my Geophagus sucks a Pleco terd in his mouth, He knows that its not edible. They can taste what is edible. Im sure some things taste a little bit better than others. Like how my whole tank goes nuts when blackworms are in sight. They dont taste like we do, but they know to degree what they just put in theirs.

 

[Valous]

I am voting on a yes they can taste. My picuts cats will not eat one type of sinking pellet. but they sure will eat just about anything.

 

[rgonzales]

yes they can taste

 

[BODYDUB]

All signs point to yes................

 

[krichardson]

sure they can. many fish show a preference for one food over another.

Its got to be because one tastes better than the other.

Yeah,if I use a different brand of pellets from what I've previously been using for some time,my cichlids will spit them out..That has to be due to an unfamiliar or undesireable flavor.