How Fish (Yes, Fish) Punish One Another

This article highlights research that explores the way in which fish punish one another. It is suggested that this behavior is used as a precursor to human systems of punishment. This research may be used by animals advocates as it is clear from this study that fish have complex emotional and social lives.

Redouan Bshary and various colleagues have studied cleaner wrasses, fish who eat the slime and parasites off of other fish. Occasionally they will take a bite out of the fish they are cleaning, as the clean scales are preferred (but they don’t do it too often in case the host fish takes off). These researchers have found that when a male and female partner of cleaner wrasses are eating together off of the same host fish, if the female partner bites the host fish the male partner will punish her by chasing her in a threatening manner until she begins to decrease the frequency with which she does this.