Nature Communications (Mar 2020)

Juvenile cleaner fish can socially learn the consequences of cheating

  • Noa Truskanov,
  • Yasmin Emery,
  • Redouan Bshary

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14712-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Cleaner fish can cheat clients for higher rewards but this comes with a risk of punishment. Here, Truskanov et al. show that juvenile cleaner fish can learn by observing adults to behave more cooperatively themselves but also to prefer clients that are more tolerant to cheating.