Growing up, I was always asking, "Can we get a dog, please?" But my Mom's answer was always, "No, you can't even keep your room clean." Instead of a dog, I got a goldfish named Bubbles. After watching Bubbles swim slowly around his bowl, and giving him his daily flakes for a week, I was unimpressed by goldfish.
Today, however, scientists in Europe contend that fish learn like humans. According to the article "Nine-Spined Sticklebacks Deploy a Hill-Climbing Social Learning Strategy in Behavioral Ecology", the nine-spined stickleback, found in streams, can compare the behavior of other sticklebacks with their own activities, and make choices that may lead to better food supplies. The scientists believe that these small fish have developed the ability to learn about where to feed because they need protection from their predators, so they look for the best place to feed while hiding. The sticklebacks pick the best food spot by comparing how successful other sticklebacks are at getting food compared to them. In the experiments, 75 percent of sticklebacks were smart enough to know from watching other sticklebacks that a feeder in the fish tank contained food. Are these small fish just like us?
The Mythbusters busted the three second goldfish memory myth. According to the myth, goldfish only have three seconds memory so by the time they swim around their small bowl, it's all new to them. Adam and Jamie busted the myth by having a competition to see who could train their goldfish to swim through a maze the fastest. Jamie used colored rings to condition the fish to associate with food. While, Adam was preoccupied in keeping his fish alive. So while Jamie's fish swam through the maze, Adam's fish never completed the course. Myth = Busted.
Here is a youtube video which demonstrates some amazing fish tricks:
Goldfish Training
The fish study and the Mythbusters contribute to both our understanding of brain evolution and the types of brain required for certain social learning functions in humans and animals. Small fish may have small brains, but they still have the ability to learn. Brain size is definitely not everything when it comes to the capacity for social learning!
Perhaps I should have been more attentive to Bubbles, and have given him a fish friend to copy!
-Heather
Author's Note: This was submitted to the blog by Heather, one of our corespondents.
Sources:
http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/search?fulltext=nine-spined+stickback
http://www.gma.org/fogm/Pungitius_pungitius.htm
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html
Editor's Note: For more blogs from Dr. Rabiah, visit Science Chicago's website at: http://www.sciencechicagoblog.com
