Sockeye salmon are red, which is the usual color of females. Even small changes in wavelength, saturation, and brightness can affect preference. Both sexually naïve males and experienced males showed the same preferences, which illustrates that preference for a red hue may be innate. Some traits that lead to reproductive success, such as body size and sexual dimorphism can affect one’s survival. This leads to opposing pressures of natural selection and sexual selection. Larger males are favored, unless the risk of predation is very high. Sockeye salmon that die prematurely from predation are typically the larger ones in a population. This shows
Fear of fish by what is now called graduated exposure therapy: In contrast, radical exposure therapy was used successfully to cure a man with a "life affecting" fish phobia on the 2007 documentary series, "The Panic Room". Historically, the Navajo people were described as being ichthyophobic, due to their aversion to fish. However, this was later recognised as a cultural or mythic aversion to aquatic animals, and not a psychological condition. The "Journal of the American Medical Association" have published a research paper addressing the fears of eating fish because contaminants, such as mercury may be accumulated in fish. In his autobiography, Italian