A series of studies has recently revealed that reef fish are surprisingly adaptable. Freshly caught wild fish quickly learn new tasks and can learn to discriminate among colors, patterns and shapes, including those they have never encountered.
The fish tapped the correct shape about 70 percent of the time in the first trial; this improved to 80 percent to 90 percent in subsequent trials.
Remarkably, the fish also learned when the food reward was delayed and delivered far from the stimulus. The damselfish exhibited what is called anticipatory behavior, in that they would tap the image and then swim quickly to the other end of their tank in anticipation of their food reward.
Oh No! Smart fish? This tends to prove Darwin's Survival of the Fittest theory. It also means we have been eating all the stupid fish.
They seam sort of jumpy if you ask me. But hey, having another smart animal wouldn't be the most harmful thing to happen to humans.
No offense to humanity, of course.
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