Three fish species that live in the Laccadive Sea, off the southwest corner of the Indian coast, are capable of using tools, we recently found.
All three species used live or dead coral structures as anvils to break the hard shells of sea urchins so they could get to the edible bits inside. The Jansen’s wrasse (Thalassoma jansenii) and the checkerboard wrasse (Halichoeres hortulanus) have never been reported using tools before, and this is the first documented instance of the moon wrasse (Thalassoma lunare) using tools in the wild.
Our study was published in the journal Coral Reefs in February. It adds to the growing number of reports of tool-use in animals. While the sophistication of human tool use, from flints to computers, distinguishes us from other animals, the use of tools itself is more common than scientists first imagined.
