As per earlier beliefs, fish can remember things only up to three seconds. However, a new research has suggested that this could be false. The research has found that fish can remember things up to five months.

In order to reach this conclusion, a month was spent by researchers at the Israeli Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa in schooling young fish to associate a certain sound with feeding time.

Following this, the fish was released by them into the wild and when the fish became adults after five months, the sounds were repeated.   

Surprisingly, it was seen that when the sound was played, the fish returned which proved that they still remembered to associate the sound with food.

The researchers suggest that this indicates that the technique could allow trained fish to be released into the wild to mature, with farmers safe in the knowledge they can bring them back when they are big enough to be served as meal.

The researchers reported, “The new method has many advantages. The fish grow in their natural environment, without the use of cages and without environmental pollution. Feeding is more economical and is based mainly on food found naturally.”