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Communication Behavior
Tool Use
Documented use of rocks and coral by wrasses and tuskfish to break open hard-shelled prey - one of the newest cognitive frontiers in fish research.
Trigger: Food Function: Cracking hard-shelled prey
📖 Overview
In 2011, researchers filmed a blackspot tuskfish holding a clam in its mouth and repeatedly smashing it against a coral rock. Since then, similar behaviour has been documented in multiple wrasse and tuskfish species - clear tool use, previously thought exclusive to primates, dolphins, and some birds.
🐟 Examples Across Species
Blackspot tuskfish (Choerodon schoenleinii), yellowhead wrasse, some Halichoeres wrasses.
✨ Fun Fact
The first documented case of fish tool use was published in 2011 - a landmark that fundamentally changed how comparative cognition researchers think about fish intelligence.