19th February 2025
Don’t tell fish they only have short memories, they may hold it against you for a very long time
Digital Art – Black Sea Bream, Spondyliosoma cantharus
It has long been said that fish, Goldfish in particular, only have memories measured in seconds, possibly as short as three seconds. There have long been grounds to question this. Some fish form stable pair bonds and the ‘who are you?’ moment after three seconds apart on the reef could be awkward. Research has confirmed far more developed memory functions than a few seconds including in Goldfish, the three second hypothesis has for some time been confirmed as wrong. A recent study raises the need for respect of fish cognitive functions even further. The Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Southern Germany looking at Sea Bream in the Mediterranean has shown that the fish have a real ability to analyse the dress sense of divers and translate that information into advantageous behaviour:
https://www.ab.mpg.de/660867/news_publication_24151953_transferred
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0558
What the study showed was an ability to learn to recognise divers by the colours of their equipment and know from a developed response which one to follow for food. Two divers were in the water and only one went on to feed the fish. If they wore different coloured sets of equipment, for example the fins, then the fish learned which diver to follow. If they wore identical equipment, the fish were unable to choose which to go with. As one of the researchers notes on The Institute web site, ‘Now we know they see us, it’s time for us to see them.’
5th January 2025
Northern Lights
Photograph – Aurora Borealis, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland
A subtle but beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis above Highland Scotland last night and for the technical the disturbance level was reported at 135nT. For the rest of us there was about twenty minutes when there was a shifting pattern of green light on and above the Northern horizon.
3rd January 2025
Venus
Digital Art
A special event for lovers of the night in the last few days, Venus was especially bright in the sky and close to the new moon.
23rd December 2024
Just in time for Christmas it’s not just people who have problems with alcohol
Digital Art
If you were in Sweden and found a Moose (European Elk) with its head stuck in a tree being ‘under the influence’ would probably not be the first reason for its predicament you would think of but you could be wrong. This was one of the reports confirming alcohol use and abuse is not just for people in a new review of evidence by a team cantered on The University of Exeter that has shown that many animals ranging from insects to elephants and primates consume alcohol from natural sources and sometimes really suffer the effects.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution – The evolutionary ecology of ethanol
The review notes that the natural alcohol sources of sugar rich fruits and fermenting yeasts have been around since the Cretaceous period which even throws up a vision of a drunk dinosaur and although there is absolutely no evidence to support this even the slightest possibility is terrifying. It’s also possible that evidence could be available. Dinosaur footprints are still being discovered, what if there were a set where it looked like walking in a straight line was too much of a challenge?
Photographs, text and illustrations ©Nick Sidle, all rights reserved