Brandon Cervantes

Biology 1615
Professor Evelyn Galvez
Article Summary

Environmental Change Enhances Cognitive Function in Fish

Introduction
Scientists were testing how an environmental change of food rations can affect the
learning capabilities of fish by performing a series of tests. Increased cognitive abilities
can be attained, for instance, if environmental change during ontogeny triggers plastic
adaptive responses improving the learning capacity of exposed individuals. (Kotrschal
A, Taborsky B 2010). They tested the cichlid fish Simochromis Pleurospilus, each aged
differently from adolescents to adults. Changes in their environments require higher
cognitive abilities for survival in order for the fish to adapt to those changes. Since their
environments are frequently changing the fish must have an advanced cognitive ability.
Food rations were fluctuated in many test subjects (tanks of fish) of whom most
tanks had groups of similarly aged fish. Their hypothesis was that the younger fish would
be able to learn faster than those fishes that were older. The way the scientists tested the
fish was to feed a stable high ration or stable low ration of food, or they would also
switch from high to low. Also they trained the fish to associate visual cues with food and
observed how often they selected the positive stimulus. They tested the fish twice, once at
the end of the juvenile period and again 1 year later.
Materials and Methods

The species they studied was of East African origin, the Simochromis
pleurospilus, which resides in Lake Tanganyika. They separated the fish (about 130
fishes) with similarly aged fish and placed them in separate tanks (20-l Plexiglas tanks)
each containing sand and a flower pot half for shelter, and an internal filter, the older ones
were grouped together and the adolescents were grouped together as well. They observed
how the fishes reacted within their tanks when given an excessive amount of food and a
low amount of food and alternating between these methods. Some fish received a high
food ration from early to late life, others received low rations, and the others experienced
switches in high to low or low to high rations. They fed the fish standardized agarose
cubes containing Tetramin flake food (12%) or 4% of mean body weight plus 5%
spirulina algae for 6 days a week. They continued feeding the fish with their respective
rations until day 259 when most fishes were at the same body size. They took surveys and
made tables as well as graphs to see how drastic the effects would be of the changes in
the food. They also tried to teach the fish visual cues, which meant food for the fish and
they observed how the fish reacted to those cues. With these tests they were able to
document the number of correct decisions made by the fish when introduced to the visual
cue.
Results
The learning tests had the same results in juveniles and adults; the amount of food
received before or after the switch did not influence the amount of correct choices
significantly. However, the fish that experienced changes in their food rations
outperformed those that were fed constant rations. Learning ability may be affected by
how much food is consumed in their juvenile period. The scientists concluded that

learning capabilities might be a result of food levels the fish experience throughout their
lives.
Discussion
The fish that experienced changes in food early in life actually experienced better
cognitive functions/learning abilities than those that were kept on constant rations. These
results suggest that a change in food availability early in life enhances the fishs cognitive
abilities, which can last their lifetimes. With the results of these multiple tests, the
scientists were also able to determine how size and growth rates can also affect cognitive
abilities.