Stimulating environment is good for fish

Atlantic salmon thinking

A new study, "Environmental enrichment promotes neural plasticity and cognitive ability in fish", by Anne Gro Vea Salvanes from EvoFish and her colleagues shows that salmon growing up in a visually enriched environment become smarter than their conspecifics grown under dull, standard rearing conditions lacking visual stimuli. BBC News has made a great summary of the work under the title "Stimulating environment 'boosts brainpower' of fish".

Full reference:

Salvanes, A. G. V., O. Moberg, L. O. E. Ebbesson, T. O. Nilsen, K. H. Jensen, and V. A. Braithwaite. 2013. Environmental enrichment promotes neural plasticity and cognitive ability in fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280:20131331. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.1331.