Topic description and stories

The world's their fish finger

12 Mar 2020

Smothered in ketchup or squished into a sandwich, there’s one tasty convenience food that’s hard to resist. Now two Cambridge researchers believe...

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Stickleback

Shoals of sticklebacks differ in their collective personalities

07 Feb 2018

Research from the University of Cambridge has revealed that, among schooling fish, groups can have different collective personalities, with some...

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Left: Early skate embryo labeled with fluorescent dye. Right: Image of a hatchling skate

Deeper origin of gill evolution suggests 'active lifestyle' link in early vertebrates

09 Feb 2017

Fish embryo study indicates that the last common ancestor of vertebrates was a complex animal complete with gills – overturning prior scientific...

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Sonic hedgehog gene provides evidence that our limbs may have evolved from sharks’ gills

19 Apr 2016

Latest analysis shows that human limbs share a genetic programme with the gills of cartilaginous fishes such as sharks and skates, providing evidence...

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Danio rerio (Zebrafish)

Even without lungs, zebrafish help us study TB

25 Nov 2015

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, Z is for...

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Neolamprologus pulcher (N. Pulcher) breed of cichlid fish used in the study

Fish born in larger groups develop more social skills and a different brain structure

07 May 2015

New research on a highly social fish shows that those reared in larger social groups from the earliest stage of life develop increased social skills...

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Left: Illustration of Metaspriggina swimming. Right: Fossil of Metaspriggina from Marble Canyon – head to the left with two eyes, and branchial arches at the top.

New fossil find pinpoints the origin of jaws in vertebrates

11 Jun 2014

A major fossil discovery in Canada sheds new light on the development of the earliest vertebrates, including the origin of jaws, the first time this...

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PTO organ with hair cells labelled in green

Natural barometer in birds evolved from ancient fish sense organ

04 Sep 2012

New research indicates that a bird’s ability to detect changes in air pressure is the evolutionary remnant of an ancient sense organ found in sharks...

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Grouper and moray.

Memory like a fish

09 Dec 2011

The traditional belief that fish have short memory spans may not be as true as we thought. Gates scholar Alex Vail is carrying out research that...

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cleaner fish

Cleaner fish respond to the shadow of the future

03 Jun 2010

Tropical fish alter their behaviour with an eye to the future, researchers at Cambridge have found. This is the first time such behaviour has been...

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Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

Researchers appeal for new regulations to save coral reefs from live fish trade

04 Aug 2006

Researchers are calling for tighter controls on the live reef fish trade, a growing threat to coral reefs, in letters to the international journal...

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