The Bluffer's Briefing on: Fish

Fishing: More than 95 per cent of the fish caught throughout the world are caught in the northern hemisphere.

Food: President John F Kennedy's favourite food was fish chowder, of which he once ate 12 bowls at a single sitting.

Fish in space: The first fish in space were South American guppies in 1976. They spent 48 days in orbit on board Salyut 5.

Intelligence: The codfish weighs 5,000 times as much as its brain.

Health: There is a hospital for fish in Japan.

Pets: There are more than 10 million tropical fish and 5 million goldfish kept as pets in Britain, together greater than the number of dogs, cats, budgerigars and rabbits combined.

Superstition: According to Mexican folklore, if a woman goes boating or swimming during the first four months of pregnancy, her child is liable to look like a fish.

Memory: The memory of goldfish works better in cold than in warm water.

Intoxication: Research has shown that a goldfish taught something while swimming in a dilute solution of alcohol is liable to forget it if placed in fresh water, then remember it again when put back into the alcohol solution.