Fun Fish Facts for Kids

• Fish are vertebrate animals that live in the water. Vertebrate means they have a spinal cord surrounded by bone or cartilage.
• Fish have gills that extract oxygen from the water around them.
• There are over 30000 known species of fish.
• Some flatfish use camouflage to hide themselves on the ocean floor.
• Tuna can swim at speeds of up to 70 kph (43 mph).
• Relative to their body size, fish have small brains compared to most other animals.
• Fish are covered in scales which are often covered in a layer of slime to help their movement through water.
• Cleaner fish help out other fish by removing parasites and dead skin from their scales.
• Although jellyfish and crayfish have the word ‘fish’ in their name, they aren’t actually fish.
• Over 1000 fish species are threatened by extinction.
• Mermaids are mythological creatures with the tail of a fish and the upper half of a woman.