Central American reef fish can "domesticate" the bran shrimp or reveal how humans domesticated animals

New research: A Central American reef fish can "domesticate" the chaff shrimp

SYDNEY, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A team led by researchers from Griffith University and Deakin University in Australia has found that a coral reef fish living off the waters off Belize in Central America can domesticate plankton shrimp to fertilize its food, seaweed. The findings may provide clues to further reveal how wild animals were originally domesticated by humans.

Domesticating other species is a complex behavior that has long been considered endemic to humans, and it is difficult to observe examples of domesticated animals in species other than humans in nature.

Griffith University recently issued a communiqué saying that an international team of researchers from the university observed in the Waters of Belize that a species of albacore snapper can become very aggressive near coral reefs, where seaweeds that can be used as their food are usually grown. Territorially-minded albacore snappers drive away alien organisms other than bran shrimp from their seaweed "food farms." Bran shrimp, protected by albacore snapper, multiply in large numbers on "farms", while their excrement improves the quality of seaweed growth and ultimately benefits "farmer" snappers.

The paper has been published in a new issue of the British journal Nature Communications. Dr. William Finney of griffith University's Institute for the Future of the Environment, who participated in the study, said that the reciprocal relationship between snapper and bran shrimp is characterized by domestication behavior, which is no different from the behavior of humans raising livestock.

It is generally believed that the ancestors of domestic animals were first domesticated after being introduced by shelters and food scraps provided by humans. The researchers believe that the fact that the bream can protect the bran shrimp from predators, and the fact that the bran shrimp can reproduce in large quantities in the shelter provided by the sea bream, are important factors in the formation of domestication relationships, and are also in line with the theory that symbiotic relationships are leading to the eventual domestication of some animals by humans.

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Source: Xinhua News Agency