Goldfish in Experiment 1 were placed on terminal deprivation when they reached 2, 3, 4, or 16 mo. Fish that were 4-mo.-old showed the greatest median survival time (2 mo.). Large fish lost a smaller percentage of their weight before death than small fish. Fish, unlike mammals, did not die when they lost a fixed percentage of their predeprivation weight. A second experiment was performed to assess recovery from deprivation. Feeding was reinstated for some of the fish after different numbers of days of deprivation (2, 28, 44, or 64 days). Fish that survived until feeding was reinstated recovered from deprivation.
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