How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures

by Sabrina Imbler

You may think goldfish live for just a year, maybe two. But they can actually live much longer. Twenty years, if they’re lucky. Goldfish can survive a few years in a bowl because they are almost supernaturally hardy, capable of weathering conditions that would quickly kill most other fish. A bowl is a tiny, isolated environment starved of oxygen, which means even a slight change in the water chemistry can be lethal. I say this because goldfish pee with abandon. They unleash more ammonia than other aquarium fish, a toxin that would be diluted in a pond or a river but can kill a fish in a bowl. This is why, I would say to the woman, a bowl makes the conditions of living impossible. But when a goldfish manages to survive it, no one thinks of their feat as extraordinary. Lastly, I would tell her, you may have heard that goldfish have a three-second memory. But goldfish can remember that a colored paddle means food is coming, even months after the association is formed. Goldfish can perform complex tasks, such as escaping a net or navigating a maze. How can such a small fish hold on to the memory of the snaking path of a maze for three months? Could you do that?