We went fishin' for some facts about our friends under the sea and think you'll be surprised by what we found!

Friendly Fish
Think only people can be best friends? Fish form relationships with other fish and they can tell one finned friend from another. Fish use tools, can remember things that happened months ago, and work together to catch food and check out animals who might eat them.

Lobster Logic
Lobsters are too smart for humans' traps. When zoology professor Win Watson dropped a lobster trap rigged with a camera into the water, he discovered that to the clever crustaceans, these traps are like deep-sea drive-throughs. Most lobsters go into the traps, grab a bite of food, and then swim right back out.

Amazing Octopuses
Octopuses' bodies are extremely flexible. In a pinch, they can squeeze themselves into a space as small as an empty soda bottle. Octopuses hide themselves by tucking up into holes and crevices, and they decorate their dens just as humans do, by choosing pretty rocks, shells, and even bits of colorful broken glass like an underwater octopus garden.

Squids and octopuses can change the colors and patterns on their bodies, going from green to blue to pink in the blink of an eye! These swimming slide shows are how cephalopods (animals like octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish) talk to one another. Researcher Martin Moynihan believed that the colors and patterns are a type of visual language and include signals for nouns and verbs.

Fishy Welcoming Committee
While scuba diving in the British West Indies, PETA's Ann Marie Giunti met a friendly little fish who was named Alexander by a local dive guide. The curious grouper waved his fins as if to say, "Hello!" and swam with Ann Marie as she explored the water. When Ann Marie ventured out of Alexander's territory, he waited patiently until she returned.

Keep Fish Off Your Fork!

Fish suffer horribly on the journey from sea to supermarket. Before they are turned into "fillets" and "fish sticks," fish are ripped from their ocean homes. Commercial fishing boats use huge nets, some stretching for miles, which swallow up everything—and everyone—in their path. Fish come out of the nets with their skin scraped completely raw from being forced to rub up against rocks, debris, and other fish trapped with them. Try a fish-friendly fake instead! Look for Worthington Foods' Tuno and other mock meats at health food stores or in the veggie section of your supermarket.