FISH can tell the difference between classical music and the blues.
Ava Chase of the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
discovered this when she placed loudspeakers in a fish tank to play music to
carp (Cyprinus carpio). Using food rewards, she trained three fish to
tell the difference between a John Lee Hooker track and a Bach oboe
concerto.
The fish could then categorise pieces they hadn鈥檛 heard before, such as Muddy
Waters songs or Beethoven sonatas, as classical or blues (Animal Learning
& Behavior, vol 29, p 336). They also distinguished between simple
melodies played backwards and forwards. Chase thinks their musical ear reflects
the importance for wild fish of understanding the meaning of different groups of
sounds.
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