> >...I will also postulate based on experience that if the fish were to die, it would be more likely to be less dense than water, and reduce the weight of the bucket/water/fish system as compared to the bucket/water system. I do welcome further discussion, however-- I find this subject very interesting! (You may have guessed that by the fact that I have replied more than once and my replies have been, for me, rather long...)
> >
> > Don
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> Hold on...even if a dead fish has less mass then water, would it not still have mass? And, as long as it has some mass, then that mass would be added to the bucket/water system, thus making the entire system weigh more with the dead fish then without the dead fish -- assuming, of course, that the water in the buckets is equal and not a fish-volume worth of liquid was removed from the bucket with the fish in it. I think that the only way the the bucket would be made lighter by something in it would be if the thing has less density the *air*, not water. As long as the object, if dropped, will fall down to the ground, then it must have weight, and therefore if the object was dumped into a bucket that bucket would weigh more.
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> -Ka"Now, where can I find some Hydrogen and a dead fish to test out my hypothesis?"z!

Sorry, I intended the "fish reducing the bucket's weight" option to fall under the "bucket brimming full and a volume of water equal to the volume of the fish is displaced" option, so my original hypothesis would be correct. You are correct, though, in saying that if the bucket was NOT brimming full, the fish would add to the weight whether dead or alive... Unless, of course, as you say, the fish is lighter than air. My experience has taught me, though, that even a dead fish is no lighter than air.

D"Now going to have nightmares about dead, lighter-than-air fish rising up out of the tank and floating around the house while he sleeps"on