The Nose of a Goldfish

A goldfish has a nose located above it’s mouth but its nares (similar to nostrils of humans) are not connected to its mouth. Instead nares are connected to chamber pouches lined with sensory nerve pads. A goldfish can smell various odors and chemicals from substances in the water when raised flaps of skin between each nare channels water into its chamber pouch and passes it over thousands of tiny hairs that make up a sensory pad.

A goldfish can distinguish between sweet, sour, savory and saline smells and the sense of smell in a goldfish is more powerful than a humans. There are odors and chemicals that signal for food, chemicals that signal a predator, chemicals that signal when it’s breeding time or even chemicals that are given off by wounded or alarmed fish.