--- title: Animals in the sea and the river — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Animals in the sea and the river», a lesson of the myths course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: At the fair, Aunt Sue hands over a goldfish in a bag: "Don't worry, love, they've got a three-second memory, so it never gets bored going r --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/) / Animals in the sea and the river # Animals in the sea and the river Lesson 11 of the myths course of Mova's primary school: 14 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/0/) — At the fair, Aunt Sue hands over a goldfish in a bag: "Don't worry, love, they've got a three-second memory, so it never gets bored going round and round!" It is a comfy story that makes a tiny bowl feel fine. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/1/) — But goldfish remember things for months; they can learn to come to a tap on the glass at feeding time and even push a lever for food. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/2/) — The myth was convenient, and convenient myths can hide unkindness. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/3/) — The water is full of tall tales like that: whales are fish, every shark dies if it stops, piranhas strip a cow in seconds, and a jellyfish sting is cured with wee, which comes from a TV comedy, not a lifeguard. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/6/) — Goldfish can remember things for months and can be trained to respond to sounds and push levers for food. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/8/) — Some sharks, like great whites, must keep swimming to breathe; others, like nurse sharks, can rest on the seabed and pump water over their gills. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/9/) — Weeing on a jellyfish sting does not help and can make it worse; rinse with seawater, remove tentacles carefully and get help from a lifeguard. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/11/) — Piranhas mostly eat fish, insects and plants; attacks on people are rare and usually just nips, and the "cow in seconds" legend grew from a staged show with starved piranhas seen by US president Theodore Roosevelt. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/12/) — Fish have pain receptors (nerve ends that sense harm) and react to injury, and many experts think fish can feel pain. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/13/) — Seahorses are fish, and male seahorses carry the eggs in a pouch and give birth. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/14/) — Most crabs walk sideways because of how their legs bend, but some kinds can walk forwards. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/15/) — Dolphins rest one half of their brain at a time, so they can keep breathing and watching. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/16/) — Electric eels are not true eels but a kind of knifefish. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/17/) — Where an animal lives doesn't decide what kind of animal it is, and its name can be wrong. - ← previous: [Birds and baby animals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/) - next →: [Cats, dogs and animal 'facts' at home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/12-cats-dogs-and-animal-facts-at-home/) - ↑ back to [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/)