Scientists watch fish watching fish
STANFORD, Calif., Jan. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists watching fish say they discovered the fish carefully watching fights between rivals to find out who is "top fish" in the school.
Logan Grosenick and his Stanford University colleagues found male cichlids (Astatotilapia burtoni) that watched a series of staged fights between pairs of unfamiliar rivals were able to infer the relative dominance of those fish.
The researchers found the territorial fish show rudiments of logical reasoning, and the study suggests cichlids have the capacity for transitive inference -- the ability to deduce unknown relationships based on knowledge of known relationships.
Remarkably, the scientists said, the fish do this indirectly, as "bystanders," without any reinforcement or reward, as well as making sophisticated use of contextual information.
The study is reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International
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