Fish have different characters which change as they experience life's highs and lows, according to British biologists. Researchers of the University of Liverpool identified different "personalities" in their fish by observing the boldness or shyness of individuals, according to The Nature on its website on Wednesday. Like people, some fish are very confident in the face of novelty or confrontation, whereas others are reticent and fearful, the researchers said.Rainbow trout are a highly aggressive species and naturally form relationships of dominance in a very short time period. They chase after each other to try and exert their dominance. We found the fish which attacked the most and retreated the least demonstrated their enhanced status over others. We found that bold fish that lost their ‘battle’ became shyer than usual and shy fish who won their ‘battle’ became bolder.
“Equally the more time, bold and shy fish spent watching each other the more their behaviour changed. Bold fish who observed the way shy fish reacted to the Lego objects became much more cautious in their behaviour. In contrast however, shy fish who observed bold fish did not alter their behaviour - they remained just as shy as before.”
Researchers believe that the shy fish observing bold fish decide their competitive ability is lower and so do not try to alter their behaviour. Bold fish, however, adapt their behaviour to what others are doing and as a result of low social status.
Link: University of Liverpool
Image: Nekominn
Tags: Personality | Fish | Nature
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