Innovative behaviour in fish: Atlantic cod can learn to use an external tag to manipulate a self-feeder

• Published in: Animal Cognition
• Main Authors: Millot, Sandie, Nilsson, Jonatan, Fosseidengen, Jan Erik, Begout, Marie-laure, Ferno, Anders, Braithwaite, Victoria A., Kristiansen, Tore S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Heidelberg 2014
• Subjects: Innovation; Learning; Cognitive ability; Tool use; Atlantic cod; Food acquisition; atlantic cod; Gadus morhua
• Online Access: https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00171/28217/26513.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0710-3; https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00171/28217/

This study describes how three individual fish, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.), developed a novel behaviour and learnt to use a dorsally attached external tag to activate a self-feeder. This behaviour was repeated up to several hundred times, and over time these fish fine-tuned the behaviour and made a series of goal-directed coordinated movements needed to attach the feeder’s pull string to the tag and stretch the string until the feeder was activated. These observations demonstrate a capacity in cod to develop a novel behaviour utilizing an attached tag as a tool to achieve a goal. This may be seen as one of the very few observed examples of innovation and tool use in fish.