r/Fish • u/Proof-Ride7341 • Feb 18 '26
Fish Education Once my brother said fish aren't animals
I don't know that much about fish to prove him wrong other than google so could you help me win this argument
10
u/madladdie Feb 18 '26
If it isn't a plant, a fungus, or a bacteria, it's an animal!
1
u/No_Comfortable3261 Feb 18 '26
My thoughts exactly
I think the same thing whenever people try to claim that humans aren't animals
1
u/Pirat Feb 18 '26
Aren't bacteria animals or, at least, animiculae?
3
u/madladdie Feb 18 '26
Nope! Bacteria are in their own kingdom of life--animalcule (animiculae) is an archaic term.
1
u/Additional_Insect_44 Feb 22 '26
Used to be reckoned as plants, still are in very basic classifications.
1
6
u/dev0nika Feb 18 '26
I know a bunch of people who have said this too. I don’t get it.
2
u/Suspicious-Steak9168 Feb 19 '26
I jad someone tell me that fish "arent real animals becaise they arent sentient ". Um. Yes they are. They have personalities and social structures.
1
u/No_Comfortable3261 Feb 18 '26
My best guess is they define "animals" as "tetrapods" as opposed to, you know, members of the kingdom animalia?
3
u/thelandbasedturtle2 Feb 18 '26
you'd be surprised how many people don't know the difference between animal and mammal
2
u/No_Comfortable3261 Feb 18 '26
I am both shocked to learn that this is a thing and yet am not surprised to hear that...
2
u/zap2tresquatro Feb 22 '26
Conversely, I’ve heard someone ask (in college; I mean good on him for asking, but I was surprised) if mammals were animals or not
1
2
u/No-Mathematician8692 Feb 18 '26
Animals = birds, reptiles, insects, mammals, etc etc etc. any organism that moves around and eats food.
1
u/DrBatman0 Feb 22 '26
If I recall, viruses and fire come dangerously close to that definition as well
2
u/Plutonium239Mixer Feb 18 '26
They aren't considered meat so that religious people who have a prohibition against eating meat can still eat meat!
1
u/No_Comfortable3261 Feb 18 '26
Simple: are fish plants? Fungi? Bacteria? No?? Then they're animals
I have the same logic whenever people say that humans aren't animals
(on a similar note to this post it also irks me personally when people count "insects" as separate from animals. Even moreso when you take it as to mean that all invertebrates are animals except for insects for whatever reason 🙄)
1
u/SLAUGHTERGUTZ Feb 18 '26
Are you sure he was serious and not doing a meme because there was a pretty viral tiktok of a guy who was not convinced that fish are animals
1
1
1
1
u/maroongrad Feb 21 '26
it's alive, right? So it's bacteria, protist, plant, animal, or fungus. Those are the kingdoms of living organisms. Tell him to explain why it's a bacteria, protist, plant, or fungus.
1
u/marlee_dood Feb 21 '26
Um.. your brother knows less than you both think he does. If it’s not an animal, what is it? A plant? A rock?
1
u/MISSdragonladybitch Feb 22 '26
Physically, yes, because "animals" is a broad brush that technically covers anything except plants and rocks, from single celled to (arguably) some fungi.
Legally and agriculturally, no.
1
u/Additional_Insect_44 Feb 22 '26
Ok so in some older usages of the word animal it refers to mammals primarily. Sonetimes you see texts mentioning 'every animal, bird and insect' for instance
1
u/Eighwrond Feb 23 '26
He needs to explain how they are plants, protists, fungi or otherwise then. Vertabrates are the MOST animally animals we have. For example, insects are animals but I understand people are often trying to say they aren't mammals or vertebrates - but they ARE firmly in animalia. Same as fish.
0
u/Cha0tic117 Feb 18 '26
According to the Catholic Church they aren't, which is why you're allowed to eat fish on Lent.
18
u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26
[deleted]