Under the Sea Reasoning: The Orange-Dotted Tusk Fish and Bottlenose Dolphins

Orange Dotted Tuskfish 

Researchers of animal cognition have studied multiple examples of different species on land "creating" or utilizing "tools" in order to problem-solve situations or successfully complete complex tasks, however, did you know that aquatic species can use tools too? Let's dive right in and take a look at the Orange Dotted Tuskfish. The Orange Dotted Tuskfish (Choerodon anchorago) commonly found in the waters surrounding Indonesia, mainly feeds on crustaceans, mollusks and sea urchins. How they achieve locating their food and cracking it open to extract their prey, though, is what makes them distinctively unique. Orange Dotted Tuskfish will perform a combination of blowing water into the sand, and brushing it back and forth with their pectoral fin to uncover prey that are hidden underneath the layers of ocean floor. Next, the Tuskfish will scoop the prey into it's mouth and swim with it until reaching a rock it reasons will "do the trick" at cracking the object open. Lastly, the Orange Dotted Tuskfish will "drop", or throw the clam harshly against the rock until it opens. At times, the fish has to trial multiple different rocks varying in size and "sharpness" before being successful. Here is an example of The Orange Dotted Tuskfish demonstrating this technique with a clam:

Orange Dotted Tuskfish utilizing tools

Another underwater species that reasons with the use of tools while hunting, is the Bottlenose Dolphin. Most people are aware that dolphins have the ability to use echolocation when searching for food and navigation, but did you know they additionally utilize sponges as tools in their quest for prey? 

Bottlenose Dolphins "wearing" sponges


Bottlenose Dolphins, seen in the wild in places such as Shark Bay, Western Australia (Patterson, 2011), are known for exploiting the use of the Marine Basket Sponge to locate prey buried within the sand and debris of the ocean floor. Marine Basket Sponges have additionally been used by Bottlenose Dolphins, to protect their rostra (beaks) while on the hunt, so that they are not damaged by coral, rocks, glass, etc. The prey the dolphins are mostly in search of, are the different species that burrow, or do not have swim bladders. The reasoning behind this, is because the animals that do not have swim bladders, or those that manage to stir up debris by burrowing, affect the reverberations of echolocation, making it harder to rely on. The dolphin will pick up a sponge, and begin to probe the ocean floor until they can pluck their prey out from hiding (Patterson, 2011). Occasionally, the dolphin will drop the sponge to surface for air, or to grab a new sponge if their previous one has lost its protective abilities (Patterson, 2011). Eric Patterson (2011), replicated this "sponge hunting" technique and found that by "human sponging" they were able to collect 134 prey, in a matter of 13.3 hours. A total of 78% of those prey were lacking swim bladders. To see how this experiment was conducted, click on the video below:


Bottlenose Dolphins "sponge hunting" and Eric Patterson's experiment

The Orange Dotted Tuskfish and the Bottlenose Dolphin are both examples of how underwater species employ cognitive reasoning, particularly out in the wild. Research on different aquatic species that instinctively apply the use of tools in order to achieve certain tasks, like that of locating or extracting prey can be beneficial to further studying animal cognition and understanding animal's thought processes. 












References

Balcombe, J. (2016). Einstein of the Sea. Scientific American, 314(6), 66-69.  
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0616-66

Choerodon anchorago summary page. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2017, from
http://www.fishbase.org/summary/5502

Patterson, E. M., & Mann, J. (2011). The Ecological Conditions That Favor Tool Use and Innovation in Wild Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops sp.). Plos ONE, 6(7), 1-7.     doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022243

The Orange-Dotted Tuskfish Strikes Back: Movie Shows New Species of Fish Using Tool. (2011, October 05). 
 Retrieved September 30, 2017, from 
 https://animalwise.org/2011/09/28/the-orange-dotted-tuskfish-strikes-back-movie-shows- new-species-of-fish-using-tool/


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