The ability to find food is one of the most important behaviours
an animal can undertake, and one of the best advantages an
animal can have is to remember where food can commonly be found.
Laboratory studies have shown that fish are able to use
learning-based strategies to locate food with most studies
focusing on the aquatic equivalent of the lab rat - the
goldfish. This fish has been shown to typically use visual
landmarks to remember a food source within laboratory arenas. In
this study the authors used radio tagged common carp to
investigate the ability of free ranging fish to undertake
similar behaviours. Carp are very closely related to goldfish
and share similar feeding habits and sensory cues while feeding.
This was undertaken in a highly turbid lake with a water clarity
of <> Bajer, P., Lim, H., Travaline, M., Miller, B., & Sorensen,
P. (2010). Cognitive aspects of food searching behavior in free-
ranging wild Common Carp Environmental Biology of Fishes DOI:
10.1007/s10641-010-9643-8 This study showed