Highlights: #205 – Sébastien Moro on the most insane things fish can do
Nov 12, 2024
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Sébastien Moro, a science writer and video blogger focused on animal cognition, reveals the astonishing intelligence of fish. He discusses the problem-solving skills of Atlantic cod and the mirror test success of cleaner wrasses, indicating self-awareness. Moro shares how archerfish excel in accuracy and gobies exhibit remarkable memory. He highlights the cooperative hunting strategies of groupers and moray eels and dives into the social dynamics of guppies, ultimately challenging our understanding of fish consciousness and emotional complexity.
Atlantic cod exhibit advanced problem-solving skills, demonstrating potential tool use and complex planning beyond initial cognitive expectations.
The mirror test results highlight fish self-recognition abilities, challenging previous beliefs about cognitive complexity and self-awareness in non-mammalian species.
Deep dives
Innovative Problem-Solving in Atlantic Cod
Atlantic cod have demonstrated remarkable problem-solving abilities through a study involving self-feeding devices. Researchers utilized colored beads attached to the fish to track their actions, revealing that one fish became adept at getting trapped in the device only to intentionally escape, showcasing an understanding of its own limitations. This fish learned to utilize its hindrance to gain advantages, orchestrating its movements to successfully retrieve food while managing the constraints of the device. Ultimately, this behavior reflected a higher level of cognitive function, indicating the potential for tool use and planning in fish beyond initial expectations.
Self-Recognition and Social Awareness in Cleaner Wrasse
The mirror test conducted on cleaner wrasse revealed their capacity for self-recognition, a trait previously believed to be primarily human. In this advanced version of the test, these fish recognized images of themselves that bore marks, demonstrating an understanding of individual identity. Furthermore, by altering images to pair their faces with different bodies, researchers found that the wrasse only attempted to remove marks from images of themselves, indicating sophisticated visual discrimination akin to human facial recognition. This highlights the cognitive complexity in fish and challenges previous assumptions about self-awareness in non-mammalian species.
Cognitive Abilities and Learned Behaviors in Archerfish
Archerfish showcase exceptional cognitive abilities through their unique hunting technique of shooting jets of water to catch insects above water. This skill requires learning, as young archerfish initially struggle to hit targets but improve over time by observing others. They also adapt their shooting methods to account for the refraction of light, accurately predicting where prey will land. Their ability to recognize human faces further amplifies their remarkable visual cognition, underscoring the sophistication of their learning processes in an aquatic environment.
Science writer and video blogger Sébastien Moro blows our minds with the latest research on fish consciousness, intelligence, and potential sentience.
This is a selection of highlights from episode #205 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Sébastien Moro on the most insane things fish can do. These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode.
And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.
Highlights:
Luisa’s intro (00:00:00)
The ingenious innovations of Atlantic cod (00:00:19)
The mirror test triumph of cleaner wrasses (00:05:46)
The astounding accuracy of archerfish (00:10:30)
The magnificent memory of gobies (00:14:25)
The tactical teamwork of the grouper and moray eel (00:17:42)
The remarkable relationships of wild guppies (00:22:01)
Sébastien's take on fish consciousness (00:26:48)
Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong
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