Fish found raising algae on a farm and taming shrimp

Man has long tamed other types of animals andused them for his own purposes to obtain the necessary resources. It was domestication that ensured the rapid development of civilization, guaranteed the supply of food and other useful things to the rapidly developing human population.

Examples of domestication in nature occurrarely. Currently, such species relationships have been identified among insects, where, for example, leaf-cutting ants in Brazil grow mushrooms. However, among vertebrates, the domestication of other species has until now been known only from the experience of man who domesticated dogs, cats, birds, cows and pigs.

An unexpected discovery was made by scientists fromAustralian Universities Griffith and Deakin, who explored coral reefs near Belize in Central America. It turned out that schools of ray-finned fishes of the pomacentral family create an algal farm and attract mysid shrimp to serve it, supplying feces for fertilizers.

Scientists have recorded that near algal farms“schools” of tiny crustacean shrimp swim regularly. This was unusual as ray-finned fish were previously known to thwart any attempt to visit their underwater farms. A study of algal farms revealed that mysids most often live in close proximity to them. In laboratory conditions, it was revealed that mysid shrimp are attracted by the smell of "farmers" of ray-finned fish. At the same time, they are frightened by predators and they are indifferent to other fish, as well as to the farm itself.

To study feedback, scientists have researched,Does the ray-finned fish protect their “home shrimp” that fertilize the farmed algae plantings? Two groups of shrimp were placed in transparent plastic bags filled with water. One was placed inside the farm and the other outside. The mysids that found themselves inside the perimeter of the farm were reliably protected - ray-finned fish scared away predators. At the same time, the "outer" group was regularly attacked by the voracious inhabitants of the sea.

After examining the quality of algae from a farm withOf "their" shrimp and algae from a farm served only by fish, scientists have found that the quality of algae from the first farms significantly exceeds the quality of plants grown without fertilizers from mysids.
The study of the simplest method of domestication of shrimp, according to scientists, can help in researching the history that led to the emergence of modern slaughterhouses, dairies and cute selfies with cats.

Source: theconversation