Fish Science: Smart Fish – Styria

Fish are smart. A growing body of scientific evidence supports this.

In February 2023, detergents with blue stripes caused a sensation around the world. Passed the so-called “mirror test”. That is, he recognizes himself in the mirror. Scientific sense, because it was previously assumed that fish are not capable of such intelligence. The Animal Factory Control Society (VGT) reported this: The cleaner fish knows who it is.

Cod learns
Another interesting example of fish intelligence has been found in scientific research on Atlantic cod, also known as cod, in Austria. In 2013, a scientific team from France, Norway and the United States of America conducted research on the behavior of imaginative cod. Three fish were exposed to an autofeeder to see if they were able to understand and use the device properly and thus feed themselves. The results were amazing. The fish developed a new behavior and learned to activate the device. Scholars on this: “This behavior is repeated up to several hundred times, and over time these fish will improve the behavior and perform the series of purposeful, coordinated movements required to attach the feeder leash to the tag and tighten the line until the feeder is activated.” These observations indicate that cod are able to evolve a novel behavior in which an attached tag is used as a tool to achieve a goal.” (1)

Use the tool in fish
The fish observations are particularly fascinating, showing that fish are able to use objects as tools, for example to obtain food. A few different studies on different types of wrasse have yielded such results. It has been observed that fish open clams by striking them against a rock while holding them in their mouths until the clam rips open, allowing the clam to get to the clam meat. These observations have been made at sea as well as in aquaria. Using the tool requires skill, insight, and imagination. For a long time it was believed that only primates could do this. Meanwhile, it has been shown several times that fish are also capable of this. (2)

Given this evidence of intelligence in fish, we humans are being asked to reconsider how we treat fish. Unfortunately, the fisheries treated them as if they were stupid, insensitive things. Fish are intelligent and sensitive animals. As such, we humans must respect them.

sources:

(1) Milot Sandy, Nelson Jonatan, Fusidingen Jan-Erik, Pigot Marie-Laure, Ferno Anders, Braithwaite Victoria A, Christiansen Tore S: Inventive behavior in fish: Atlantic cod can learn to use an external marker to manipulate a self-feeder, 2013

(2) G. Bernardi: Tool use by wrasses (Labridae), Coral Reefs, 2012