Amazed to see fish know how to use tools to crack clam shells

cá - Ảnh 1. — A yellow parrotfish holds its prey in its mouth and prepares to smash its shell with a rock - Photo: CE O'BRIEN

Cuban divers provided scientists with 13 videos and three detailed descriptions of reef fish using rocks as tools to break open the shells of hard-shelled marine creatures. The study authors analyzed the videos to learn more about fish intelligence, according to IFLScience on March 31.

Judging by the evidence to date, in addition to humans, monkeys, dolphins, octopuses, and parrots also use tools, and some parrots have become masters at it.

Yet many people still thought fish weren't smart enough, besides having no hands to use any tools if they could invent them, until Professor Culum Brown received footage of a black-spotted tuskfish cracking open a clam shell with a rock.

A black parrotfish shows off its shell-cracking skills - Source: YOUTUBE

Brown, who works at Macquarie University in Australia, said there had been very few previous reports of fish using tools. However, the videos his team had received had helped them identify five species of fish that use tools, three of which were seen using the behaviour for the first time.

In one video, a fish can be seen holding its prey in its mouth and arching its body before making a rapid sideways movement to knock it against a rock. "Tool use is often associated with humans, but this behaviour is evidence that fish are much more intelligent than we previously thought," said Dr Juliette Tariel Adam, an author of the study.

What is remarkable is that all five of the tool-using fish mentioned above belong to the parrotfish family (wrasse). Most parrotfish species live in tropical coral reefs, but there are some species that live in temperate regions.

What makes parrotfish unique, according to the team, is their jaw morphology and their versatile feeding regime. They can eat corals and scrape algae off rocks. They also crack open the shells of a variety of prey on rocks, such as crabs, sea urchins, and brittle stars.

However, there are risks involved in breaking open the shell of prey. One of them is that the prey is thrown away and that the parrotfish may become prey while it is distracted by its surroundings.

Professor Brown said some fish families, including those considered intelligent, such as mosquitofish, have not adopted this method of feeding. This may be partly because they are too small or their prey is not suitable for handling in this way.

However, understanding why other fish species fail to develop this skill could tell us more about intelligence in general.

The study was published in the journal Coral Reefs .

Back to topic

ANH THU

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sung-sot-khi-thay-ca-biet-dung-cong-cu-dap-vo-trai-2025040110424508.htm