Memória de peixe: a cognição em peixes recifais

Abstract

Learning and memory involve the ability to adjust behavior in response to experiences. The storage time of these memories is related to the type of experience (aversive, appetitive), and to the ecological environment in which the species evolved (sociability, predictability). The general objective of this thesis was to investigate the memory retention capacity in several tasks using three fish species: Stegastes fuscus, Acanthochromis polyacanthus and Amphiprion percula. We evaluated information retention time in appetitive and aversive conditioning tasks (chapter 1); We investigated the influence of familiarity on the mnemonic response maintenance time (chapter 2); and We assess spatial learning and memory in response to environmental warming (chapter 3). Our results showed that the type of stimulus does not interfere with information retention for up to 15 days in S. fuscus. Through the agonistic response, we observed that S. fuscus presents individual recognition ability and ability to remember conspecifics, an ability that was affected by the interval time for re-pairing with conspecifics (5, 10 and 15 days). In addition, we observed that A. polyacanthus learns and remembers a spatial navigation task for 5 days while A. percula does not learn the task. Given the importance and vulnerability of reef environments, the understanding of aspects related to the memory of individuals can provide science with useful results for future management and conservation plans, in addition to contributing to the knowledge of the biology of reef fish, which shows an elaborate cognitive capacity.