Caught in the act: Diver takes first ever photos of a wild fish using a tool

By Daily Mail Reporter


First photo: A blackspot tuskfish - Choerodon schoenleinii - holds a clam in its mouth and hits it against a rock to break the shell so it can eat the bivalve inside


A professional diver has captured the first images of a wild fish using a tool.

Scott Gardner was exploring Australia's Great Barrier Reef when he heard a banging sound from the sea floor.

He swam down to take a look and was amazed to see a blackspot tuskfish - Choerodon schoenleinii - holding a clam in its mouth and hitting it against a rock.

After a short while, the shell broke and the fish ate the bivalve inside.


Fortunately, Mr Gardner managed to photograph this happening as there has never before been any evidence to prove tool use in fish.

Behavioural ecologist Culum Brown, of Macquarie University in Sydney, told Science Now: 'The pictures provide fantastic proof of these intelligent fish at work using tools to access prey that they would otherwise miss out on.

'It is apparent that this particular individual does this on a regular basis judging by the broken shells scattered around the anvil.'

Tool use had long been considered a sign of human intelligence. However, in recent decades an increasing number of animals have shown they too can work with tools and objects.

Primates, for instance, use rocks to smash nuts and sharpened sticks as spears, while elephants pick up tree branches using their trunks to scratch themselves and swat insects.

But it has never been documented with certainty in fish before.

Tool use had long been considered a sign of human intelligence. However, in recent decades an increasing number of animals have shown they too can work with tools and objects... but it had never before been documented in fish


Dr Brown said there have been reports of fish cracking open hard-shelled prey before, but never any photographic evidence.

He is particularly pleased with Mr Gardner's images seem to prove that this isn't a one-off event, but that the blackspot tuskfish is seasoned at opening shells in this manner.

Dr Brown described the fish's actions as 'landing absolutely pinpoint blows'.

Furthermore, he said, a small collection of crushed shells around the rock suggest the fish had been doing this for a while.


Diver Scott Gardner was exploring Australia's Great Barrier Reef when he heard a banging sound from the sea floor and swam down to takie a look. It was then that he captured this series of photos


Some experts stand by a very rigid definition of tool use in animals, that the creature must carry the tool itself.

As fish don't have any limbs to hold an object, Dr Brown hopes this definition can be loosened so that their own form of tool use can be recognised.

'One of the problems with the definition of tool use as it currently stands is it's totally written for primates,' Dr Brown said.

'You cannot swing a hammer effectively underwater.'


source:dailymail