Like many anglers I am fascinated by the world beneath the surface of water and spend as much time as possible just gazing into their world and looking for structure in their life cycles. Casual observation of barbel, with the introduction of a few food samples, will eventually prove a hierarchy amongst a shoal as the smaller fish are sent to test the new food source before the shoal leaders enter an assumed safe zone where they will feed confidently at the prime spot.
The speed that certain fish take to recover from shock or stress varies too from species to species and to the size of the fish. But this is all small beer and there's a world of observation and experimentation going on into the social life of fish. That much of it is done on coral reefs is logical due to the clarity of water and the very number of fish that inhabit them, but some of these observations are mind blowing and must surely indicate that there is so very much that we do not understand about our scaled friends.
Consider this. Fish will communicate with each other a request to join in the hunt for food. This means it has had a forethought of an action it wishes to undertake, a plan, in that it chooses a partner and a goal to aim for. This takes the three second memory myth even farther into history where it belongs. It demonstrates consciousness and complexity at a new level. Okay, taking that on board, imagine a fish asking another species to assist in a hunt. A grouper asking a moray eel for example. Yes, it happens. A grouper is an efficient hunter in open water but restricted in the narrow canals of a reef where, of course, the eel is king. The further communication between these fish is staggering.
This is just a tiny area covered in this fantastic book. Written by a scientist but in a way that even I can understand, it is a must read for anybody that has ever peered into the shallows and wondered.
