Question: Do fish have facial expressions and if so then why?

Bridget Waller answered on 24 Jun 2010:

Hmm, I have never really thought about fish facial expressions! I don’ think so, not really. In order to produce a facial expression you need to have a flexible face that can move in different ways, and i can’t really think of any fish that have this. Can you? What we see in mammals is a gradual increase in the importance of the face as animals become more social. So, as fish don’t tend to have particularly complex social lives (although I am sure some do!), they might not need to communicate like this. They tend to have quite rigid, ritualised communication through movements and chemical signalling (smell/taste). Great question 🙂