Goldfish

Links:

• Exploding fish at mega-mart?

• Consumer complaints about mega-mart fish department
  

Discussion:

While purchasing goldfish at our local mega-mart today, the clerk waiting on us told us to hold the fish up high when going through the security scanner. She said that the lasers in the scanners would heat up the water and it would kill the fish. She backed up the claim with a story about a woman who had bought a number of fish from her a couple of weeks back who had reported that they all died within a day. When she asked the woman about holding the fish above the scanner, the woman said she had not known nor been told to do so, which was sad because there was nothing the clerk could do for her.

Does this sound like a reasonable story to you? If you buy the fish, do you hold them high on your way out?

So. . .
What are we questioning?

• Reportedly, the scanners kill fish.
• Reportedly, the scanners kill fish by heating the water the fish live in.

What do we know?

• A woman who bought fish at the store lost them all within a day.

Assumptions we need to recognize?

• The woman's fish died because of the scanners.
• The clerk understands the mechanism by which the scanners kill fish.
• If the scanners kill fish, even by some other mechanism, the clerk does not feel the mega-mart is responsible for destruction of the products they sell.

What information do we gather?

• People walk out of the store through the scanners.
• People aren't killed or apparently hurt by walking through the scanners.
• If people could be hurt by the scanners, the mega-mart would be sued for using them.
  
• People are largely water.
• The store should have some formal notification of special procedures for the removal of products from the store if such procedures were needed in order to remove the products without damaging them.
  

Logical relationships?

• The scanners would heat people, assuming the clerk is right about the mechanism by which the scanners kill fish.
• Even if the fish are much more sensitive to the effects of the scanners, the store could not afford to use them if there was any potential harm to people
• If the scanners kill fish, the store would be liable for destruction of the products they sell.
  

Warranted conclusions?

• The scanners don't kill fish.
• The health of the fish sold by this store is suspect.

Methods of testing?

• In principle: Purchase several fish. Take some out of the store through the scanners, others held high. Observe the two groups and see how they fare.
• Alternatively, delay purchase of the fish and look for evidence to corroborate or disprove the story once home.

However, since the purpose of having the fish is to amuse my children, and I suspect the fish at our neighborhood mega-mart may not be altogether healthy, I will forgo testing. . . Minimal research found the links at the start of this post.