# Goldfish **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793 "2002-09-10T13:28:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/1 "2002-09-10T13:28:49Z")
Why do they have nostrils? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/2 "2002-09-10T14:03:40Z")
Well, I couldn’t find a page that directly talked about goldfish nostrils, but at this site about the closely related koi, [http://members.iinet.net.au/~tsf/koi/koi\_anatomy.html](http://members.iinet.net.au/~tsf/koi/koi_anatomy.html), it says > [@](#): > > The nostrils are used purely for scent. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/3 "2002-09-10T14:49:11Z")
How can you smell underwater? _I_ can’t smell unerwater. I get all sneezy and coughy and _really_ hacks of the fish. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/4 "2002-09-10T14:56:53Z")
Scent particles float through the water, and when they wash over the scent organ in the goldfish nostrils, the fish smells. **You** can’t smell underwater because your nostrils, unlike goldfish nostrils, are connected to lungs. Does anyone else get a kick out the phrase “goldfish nostrils”? Oh, and since I never get to say it, wouldn’t Goldfish Nostrils be a great band name? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/5 "2002-09-10T14:57:02Z")
Perhaps because you’re meant to be breathing air? ---
**Author:** ![Fishhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@Fishhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishhead)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/6 "2002-09-10T19:50:48Z")
Fish don’t have nostrils. They have nares. Each nare has two openings separated by a little flap. Cilia push water in one opening and out the other, past the sensory cells within the nare. Fish do use them for smelling, but of course not for breathing. Obviously our sinuses are better equiped for dealing with airborne scent particles than those in water. But water carries stuff better. I suspect that we really could smell waterborn substances with our nostrils (or more acurately with the sensory organs in our sinuses) if we could get past the nasty sensation of having water in there. The molecules that we normally smell probably have to be dissolved in the fluids excreted by our mucous membranes in order to be sensed. I would guess that they would move over from water just as well as from the air, but no real proof. Fishhead ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/7 "2002-09-10T20:20:58Z")
I saw some of that in the bathroom… ---
**Author:** ![Landsendman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/278dde/32.png) [@Landsendman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landsendman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goldfish/127793/8 "2002-09-11T18:54:40Z")
**Fishead** This is the first new thing I’ve learned about fish anatomy since I was a tyke. And it makes me want to go right out and find a fish to inspect. Another point for Science On The March.