A New York Times Bestseller "Makes a persuasive case that What Fish know is quite a lot." --Elizabeth Kolbert, The New York Review of Books There are more than thirty thousand species of fish--more than mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined.
An illuminating journey into the world of Underwater science, What a Fish Knows will forever change your view of our aquatic cousins--your pet goldFish included..
Highlighting these breakthrough discoveries and others from his own encounters with fish, Balcombe inspires a more enlightened appraisal of marine life.
The reef-dwelling damselFish identifies its brethren by face patterns visible only in ultraviolet light, and some species communicate among themselves in murky waters using electric signals.
Fish possess sophisticated senses that rival our own.
They also plan, hunt cooperatively, use tools, punish wrongdoers, curry favor, and deceive one another.
They conduct elaborate courtship rituals and develop lifelong bonds with shoal-mates.
Introducing the latest revelations in animal behavior and biology, Balcombe upends our assumptions about fish, exposing them not as unfeeling, dead-eyed creatures but as sentient, aware, social--even Machiavellian.
In What a Fish Knows, the ethologist Jonathan Balcombe takes us under the sea and to the other side of the aquarium glass to reveal What fishes can do, how they do it, and why.
But for all their breathtaking diversity and beauty, we rarely consider how Fish think, feel, and behave.
A New York Times Bestseller "Makes a persuasive case that What Fish know is quite a lot." --Elizabeth Kolbert, The New York Review of Books There are more than thirty thousand species of fish--more than mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined