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Give Zebrafish Some Booze and They Stop Fearing Robots
Zothecula writes "With some help from a robotic fish, scientists have discovered that zebrafish are much like humans in at least one way – they get reckless when they get drunk. OK, 'drunk' might not be technically accurate, but when exposed to alcohol, the fish show no fear of a robotic version of one of their natural predators, the Indian leaf fish. When they're "sober," they avoid the thing like crazy. The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising future for robots in behavioral studies."
The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising future for robots in behavioral studies.
Wait, what? I was sure the moral of the story was gonna be a new Prohibition for our fishy friends.
It should invalidate this study. Alcohol is toxic to fish, so they most likely didn't lose their fear, they were probably just extremely sick. When fish get sick, they tend to not move much and ignore most of their surroundings.
I have had to euthanize a few of my old, terminally ill zebra danios before. The method I use is to put the sick fish into a small container and add a little bit of clove oil, which causes them to become lethargic and go into sleep mode. Afterward, alcohol is added, vodka or whatever, and the fish never wakes up.