In the heart of the Mediterranean, off the coasts of Corsica, a group of researchers discovered a surprising ability in Wild fish: the ability to recognize people based on their appearance. This innovative study was conducted by the experts of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Costanza, in Germany, at the Station Research Station, located in Calvi.
The results, recently published in the magazine Biology Lettersoffer New perspectives on animal cognition. The initial observation that started the experiment concerned the behavior of some fish towards divers.
The researchers had noticed that certain specimens they tended to follow specific people rather than others, especially when they were used to receiving food. To deepen this dynamic, they structured a three -phase study, with the aim of determining whether fish could actually distinguish human beings.
In the experiment they rely on the colors and characteristics of the equipment
In the first phase, Katinka Square, one of the researchers involved, spent almost two weeks Training about twenty sea breams to follow her during diving. Thanks to daily repetition and food reward, the fish quickly learned to associate its presence with the Food availability. This observation confirmed the initial hypothesis: the specimens recognized rags and responded to his presence.
The second phase introduced a new element: another researcherMaëlan Tomasek, joined the experiment, wearing a underwater equipment slightly different from that of STRONRR. Initially, the fish seemed to follow both without distinction. However with the passage of time they started again to prefer the researchersuggesting that they were using a visual criterion to identify it.
In the third and final phase both researchers they immersed themselves wearing identical equipment. At this point, the fish have stopped distinguishing between the two, distributing themselves fairly between them. This result has shown that fish they had rely on the colors and characteristics of the equipment to recognize the diversrather than on physical traits such as face or build.
According to scholars, this ability to distinguish people based on visual details is in line with the color vision owned by most fish. It also suggests that, over time, they could develop even more sophisticated methods to identify humans. “Sometimes it almost seemed that they were studying usrather than the opposite“Observed Square. This discovery opens new perspectives on the perception and intelligence of wild fish, showing that their cognitive world could be much more complex of what was previously thought.
