Now a new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology offers an insightful clue into why some of the 28 described species of clown fish have white bars on their bodies in the first place — and in the process, their research demonstrates that the fish are even smart enough to count.
The experiment in question involved 120 individual A. ocellaris fish, which typically have three white bars on their bodies. The fish were then provided with opportunities to interact with model fish that had varying numbers of bars on their bodies. As this happened the scientists noticed a striking pattern. The real-life fish behaved more aggressively toward models with three bars than any of the other models, and as much so as they did against other living A. ocellaris.
