Even as people recognize the intelligence of many animal species, we lag behind when it comes to fish. Expressionless—at least to our eyes—and living in an alien environment, their smarts have gone largely unnoticed, even by scientists.
That, however, is finally changing. Findings of complex fish cognition, from counting ability to tool use and even emotion, are becoming commonplace. And to those feats, add another: fish possess a sophisticated form of memory considered foundational to the rich inner experiences of other animals, including Homo sapiens.
Called episodic memory, it’s the ability to recall the what, where and when of events, categorizing the raw material of experience into some sort of coherency. Not long ago, episodic memory was thought unique to humans and the brainiest animals—yet as described in a study published in the journal Animal Cognition, zebrafish have it, too.
Link (via: Conservation Magazine)
