They say that fish has a short memory...

[Silverobama]

People here usually say that fish has a memory of seven seconds, I first heard it when there was a Chinese song about it. Today I went to a museum and talked to a Ph. D student who stduies ocenography. I said the following in English:

They say that fish has a short memory of up to seven seconds. Is it true?

I wonder if native English speakers would ask the question I did in italic.

 

[emsr2d2]

People here usually say that fish has have a memory of just/only seven seconds. I first heard it when there was in a Chinese song. about it. Today, I went to a museum and talked to a Ph.D student who studies oceanography. I said the following in English:

They say that fish has have a short memory - of only up to seven seconds. Is it true?

I wonder if native English speakers would ask the question I did in italic say that.

 

[Rover_KE]

I went to a museum and talked to a Ph. D student who stduies ocenography. I said the following in English:

They say that fish has a short memory of up to seven seconds. Is it true?

What was their answer?

 

[Silverobama]

What was their answer?

He said much longer than seven seconds - from a range of three days to three months.

 

[probus]

Please make note of the corrections provided by emsr2d2 in post number 2. You could use the singular "has", with one fish representing all fish, but in that case you'd need the indefinite article: a fish has a memory ...