“What the movie shows is very interesting. The animal excavates sand to get the shell out, then swims for a long time to find an appropriate area where it can crack the shell. It requires a lot of forward thinking, because there are a number of steps involved. For a fish, it’s a pretty big deal.”
— I’ll say! University of California ecology and evolutionary biology professor Giacomo Bernardi talks about the orange-dotted tuskfish he filmed opening a clam with the help of a rock. It is the first filmic evidence of tool usage by a fish. I can’t wait for the next scene, when the fish uses a fork to twirl up the spaghetti vongole he’s made for himself because it is impolite to slurp at the dinner table.
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I grew up in New Jersey. I live in New York. I write for the Awl, and also a book called Public Apology, for Grand Central Publishing.