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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Using the FishSim Animation Toolchain to Investigate Fish Behavior: A Case Study on Mate-Choice Copying In Sailfin Mollies

Using the FishSim Animation Toolchain to Investigate Fish Behavior: A Case Study on Mate-Choice Copying In Sailfin Mollies

Published on: November 8, 2018

Male and female guppies differ in problem-solving abilities.

Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato¹, Elia Gatto², Angelo Bisazza²

¹Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.

Current Zoology

|May 30, 2020

Summary

Male and female guppies show distinct problem-solving abilities, with females outperforming males in one task and a smaller, reversed difference in another. These findings highlight sex differences in fish cognition.

Keywords:

fish cognition individual differences learning abilities problem solving sex differences

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Published on: September 14, 2016

Assessing Differences in Sperm Competitive Ability in Drosophila

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Last Updated: Dec 20, 2025

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Assessing Differences in Sperm Competitive Ability in Drosophila

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Published on: August 22, 2013

Area of Science:

Ethology
Comparative Psychology
Animal Behavior

Background:

Sex differences in problem-solving exist in humans and some mammals, potentially linked to differing ecological roles.
Investigating these differences in non-mammalian species like fish can broaden our understanding of cognitive evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine if the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a teleost fish, exhibits sex-based differences in problem-solving capabilities.
To compare male and female guppy performance on two distinct cognitive tasks.

Main Methods:

Experiment 1 involved learning to remove a disc blocking a food source.
Experiment 2 utilized a detour task where fish learned to enter a transparent cylinder for a reward.

Main Results:

Females significantly outperformed males in the disc-dislodging task (Experiment 1).
A smaller, reversed sex difference was observed in the detour task (Experiment 2), with males showing a slight advantage.

Conclusions:

Sex differences in problem-solving are present in the guppy, suggesting such differences are not exclusive to mammals.
These findings indicate that ecological roles may drive cognitive specializations in fish, mirroring patterns in other vertebrates.