Word: fishelis
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Scientists often warn against anthropomorphism - the attribution of human characteristics to animals or even nonliving things. But it's hard to resist the charm of Labroides dimidiatus, a species of fish otherwise known as the bluestreak cleaner wrasse. These colorful little critters make their living in coral reefs by setting up cleaning stations where larger fish - often predators that might otherwise gobble them up - can stop by to have their skin cleaned. The wrasses busy themselves like car-wash attendants fussing around a sports car, nibbling off parasites, dead tissue and other blemishes and nourishing themselves in the process...
Since the discovery of the fish's behavior in the 1950s, cleaner wrasses have provided biologists with a delightful example of cooperation in nature. But now an international team of scientists has observed another unusual trait in the fish, one that may shed light on higher social animals, including humans. The wrasses, it appears, know how to punish one another...
...turns out that - surprise! - cleaner wrasses don't actually like to munch on dead flesh and parasites. They much prefer the slimy mucus that coats healthy fish skin, which is rich in carbohydrates. So in nature, the wrasses occasionally cheat and take a nip of their client's body. When they work alone, the wrasses strike a balance between cleaning and cheating so as not to lose their client's business. But wrasses also work in pairs. In these situations, explains Redouan Bshary of the Université de Neuchâtel in Switzerland - one of the authors...
...when their partners steal a bite of their clients, and they often chase the female around in a threatening manner. To prove that this was indeed the physical scolding it appeared to be, Bshary and colleagues ran a tank experiment in which they introduced a plate of normal fish flakes (which wrasses like) and prawns (which wrasses love) to two fish. If either fish ate a tasty prawn, the researchers removed all the food from the tank. Sure enough, when the female nibbled the prawns, the male wrasse went berserk. As the experiment progressed, the females became less likely...
...sipped; it is not savored. In fact, there's no real reason to drink it except to get drunk. With an alcohol content of between 40% and 55% (80-110 proof), vodka is consumed as a shot, usually in the afternoon or evening, followed by a salty snack: fish, pickles, jellied meat or sauerkraut. After the food comes another shot. Then more food. Shot, food, shot, food - and so on until the Russian winter seems a little less cold. (The food, by the way, is optional...