Non visual discrimination of shapes in the blind cave cyprinid<i>Phreatichthys andruzzii</i>Vinciguerra 1924

Sguanci, S.; Ceccolini, Filippo; Berti, Roberto

doi:10.1080/03949370.2010.510038

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In this sense, cavefish might share the same numerical systems reported in other teleost fish but exhibit a worse performance because of a general noise in representing the items to be enumerated. However, we do not feel this is the case, as the same species proved able to learn shape discrimination between two 3D objects submerged in opposite positions of the tank, with apparently the same cognitive effort described in other species tested in the visual domain (Sguanci et al, 2010).…”

Section: Research Articlementioning

confidence: 72%

“…In P. andruzzii, the lateral line system is already well developed in the larvae and the neuromasts increase in number and size both in the anterior (head) and posterior (trunk) lateral line with age (Dezfuli et al, 2009). Based on behavioral observations, Sguanci and collaborators (Sguanci et al, 2010), who have studied discrimination of three-dimensional shapes in Phreatichthys, suggest that this task might be accomplished mainly through the lateral line system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This species shows eye degeneration, making it a proper model to investigate the capacity to process numbers and continuous quantities in a fish brain using a non-visual modality. In a previous study, this cavefish was found to learn discrimination between three-dimensional objects with different shapes (Sguanci et al, 2010). There are no data available on the sensory modality (or a combination of different modalities) used by P. andruzzii to detect objects present in their environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…There are no data available on the sensory modality (or a combination of different modalities) used by P. andruzzii to detect objects present in their environment. In other hypogean fish there is evidence that information acquired by the lateral line system is used to memorize landmarks and form cognitive maps (De Perera, 2004;Teyke, 1989), and a recent study (Sguanci et al, 2010) suggests that this may be the main modality used by P. andruzzii as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Non-visual numerical discrimination in a blind cavefish (Phreatichthys andruzzii)

Bisazza

Tagliapietra

Bertolucci

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Over a decade of comparative studies, researchers have found that rudimentary numerical abilities are widespread among vertebrates. While experiments in mammals and birds have employed a variety of stimuli (visual, auditory and tactile), all fish studies involved visual stimuli and it is unknown whether fish can process numbers in other sensory modalities. To fill this gap, we studied numerical abilities in Phreatichthys andruzzii, a blind cave-dwelling species that evolved in the phreatic layer of the Somalia desert. Fish were trained to receive a food reward to discriminate between two groups of objects placed in opposite positions of their home tank. In Experiment 1, subjects learned to discriminate between two and six objects, with stimuli not controlled for non-numerical continuous variables that covary with numbers, such as total area occupied by stimuli or density. In Experiment 2, the discrimination was two versus four, with half of the stimuli controlled for continuous quantities and half not controlled for continuous quantities. The subjects discriminated only the latter condition, indicating that they spontaneously used non-numerical information, as other vertebrates tested in similar experiments. In Experiments 3 and 4, cavefish trained from the beginning only with stimuli controlled for continuous quantities proved able to learn the discrimination of quantities based on the sole numerical information. However, their numerical acuity was lower than that reported in other teleost fish tested with visual stimuli.

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Section: Research Articlementioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Non-visual numerical discrimination in a blind cavefish (Phreatichthys andruzzii)

Bisazza

Tagliapietra

Bertolucci

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Several cave eco-environmental factors affect cave animals, such as the light intensity (Ramsey, 1901;Charlton, 1933;Steven and Aldemaro, 1997;Wilkens et al, 2000;Sguanci et al, 2010), temperature and humidity (Studier and Lavoie, 1990;Chapman, 1983;Lavoie et al, 2007). Heavy metals are stable in the environment (Masonrp et al, 2000) and reserved in animal and human bodies through food chains (Rod and Akastair, 1995;Abudul and Bouche, 1997;Klein and Paulus, 1995;Hsu et al, 2006;Vlado et al, 2011), which is one of the important eco-environmental factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioaccumulation of eight heavy metals in cave animals from Dashui and Malang caves, Guizhou Province, China

Xu¹,

Daohong²,

Li³

2012

Afr. J. Biotechnol.

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Eight heavy metals content in the dominant animal groups, soil and water in Malang and Dashui caves were examined. The results showed that zinc contents in Porcellio scaber from Dashui and Malang caves were 448.80 and 598.00 mg/kg, respectively, which is the highest among all these 8 metals, while Pb was not detected in Diestrammena marmorata and Rhinolophidae pearsoni, suggesting that both animals were incapable of or poor in Pb accumulation. The highest average value of enrichment coefficient for soil-born Cd in animals from Dashui cave was 4.15, while that for water-born Zn was 91723.84. By contrast, the highest average value of enrichment coefficient for soil-born Cd in animals from Malang cave was 8.48, and that for water-born Zn was 708102.64.

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Cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus discriminate numbers but fail a mental number line test

Triki

Bshary

2017

Anim Cogn

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Several species of primates, including humans, possess a spontaneous spatial mental arrangement (i.e. mental number line MNL) of increasing numbers or continuous quantities from left to right. This cognitive process has recently been documented in domestic chicken in a spatial-numerical task, opening the possibility that MNL is a cognitive capacity that has been conserved across vertebrate taxa. In this scenario, fish might possess the MNL as well. Here we investigated whether cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus show evidence for MNL in two experiments. In Experiment I, we tested fish's abilities in number discrimination, presenting simultaneously either small (2 vs 5) or large (5 vs 8) continuous quantities where one quantity was systematically rewarded. Experiment II used a protocol of an MNL task similar to the study on chickens. We trained cleaners with a target number (i.e. 5 elements), then we presented them with an identical pair of panels depicting either 2 elements or 8 elements, and we recorded their spontaneous choice for the left or right panel on each presentation. Cleaner fish showed high abilities in discriminating small and large numbers in Experiment I. Importantly, cleaners achieved this discrimination using numerical cues instead of non-numerical cues such as the cumulative surface area, density, and overall space. In contrast, cleaners did not allocate continuous quantities to space in Experiment II. Our findings suggest that cleaner fish possess numbering skills but they do not have an MNL. While similar studies on animals from various clades are needed to trace the evolution of MNL within vertebrates, our results suggest that this cognitive process might not be a capacity conserved across all vertebrate taxa.

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Non visual discrimination of shapes in the blind cave cyprinidPhreatichthys andruzziiVinciguerra 1924

Cited by 9 publications

References 19 publications

Non-visual numerical discrimination in a blind cavefish (Phreatichthys andruzzii)

Non-visual numerical discrimination in a blind cavefish (Phreatichthys andruzzii)

Bioaccumulation of eight heavy metals in cave animals from Dashui and Malang caves, Guizhou Province, China

Cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus discriminate numbers but fail a mental number line test

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