BBC Earth features research from EvoFish

BBC Earth has published an article entitled "How do you entertain a fish?" where research showing how growing environment shapes the cognitive abilities in fish is discussed. In short, environments lacking stimuli (such as traditional fish hatcheries) retard the cognitive development in fish. When released to the wild, such "stupid" fish have low survival because their ability to deal with challenges such as avoiding predators and finding food is poor. In contrast, fish grown in enriched environments become "smarter" and fare better when released - an important lesson for supportive breeding programmes! Research by Anne Gro Vea Salvanes from EvoFish and EvoFish-alumnus Olav Moberg have been important in the development of this resaerch area, and their work, including some cool videos, is featured in the article.