The fish humans find most beautiful are least in need of conservation while "ugly" fish need more help. A study into fish aesthetics warns of a beauty bias.
A new study shows how humans rate the prettiness of more than 2,400 reef fishImage: imageBROKER/picture alliance
Advertisement
'Ugly' fish more likely to be endangered
Not all creatures are made equal and that includes our friends in the sea. A study reveals that less attractive fish need more conservation support.
Image: imageBROKER/picture alliance
Not just a pretty face
A study from the University of Montpellier in France has described the aesthetic value of 2,416 reef fish species for the first time. The study shows that fish rated as less aesthetically pleasing are more in need of conservation support — and that they may be less likely to get it. The mandarin fish (pictured) is not one of them though. It actually has a high aesthetic value.
Image: Rick D. Stuart Smith
Why the long face?
"Most of the fish that people find not beautiful are drab fish with an elongated body shape and no clearly delineated color patterns," said lead study author and ecologist Nicolas Mouquet. Mouquet said that some of the less attractive fish include the white steenbras (pictured), the bluefish and the bocaccio rockfish.
Image: Anka Agency International/picture alliance
The color and the shape
The highest aesthetic values related to the quality and diversity in color of a fish, the saturation of its colors and the presence of well-delineated and repeated patterns. A circular body shape, said researcher Nicolas Mouquet, was ranked higher than long bodies. The bocaccio rockfish (pictured), for instance, has an elongated shape and was found to be less aesthetically pleasing to humans.
Image: NOAA Fisheries/AP Photo/picture alliance
Winner: Bright colors, rounded shape
"For instance, high color heterogeneity (quality) and well-delineated patches of contrasted lightness, as observed in angelfish and butterflyfish, makes them pleasant to [people]," Mouquet told DW.
Image: imageBROKER/picture alliance
Be mindful of aesthetic biases in conservation
Mouquet said that fish aesthetics — what we consider beautiful or ugly — does not always lead to biases in support for or against conservation. But, Mouquet noted, "as we found that less beautiful fish were more in need of conservation, there is a need for us to make sure that our 'natural' aesthetic biases do not turn into a bias in conservation efforts."
Image: imageBROKER/picture alliance
5 images1 | 5
Never judge a book by its cover — it's a principle we would like others to apply to us. But we do often judge others by their looks and a new study has found that our inclination to judge based on appearances also extends to the oceans.
The species of reef fishes that people find least beautiful tend not to be prioritized for conservation support, says the study published in the journal PLOS Biology. But it's "ugly" fish and the ecosystems they support that need conservation most.
The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) was deemed one of the more unattractive reef species.Image: Frank W Lane/FLPA/IMAGO
Researchers at the University of Montpellier in France say they found that species ranked as more attractive tend to be less distinctive in terms of their ecological traits and evolutionary history.
How they ranked beautiful and 'ugly' fish
The researchers used an online survey to ask 13,000 members of the public to rate the aesthetic attractiveness of more than 480 photographs of ray-finned reef fishes — fishes being different species of fish.
Then they used the information from the survey to train an artificial intelligence technology, known as a convolutional neural network, to respond to yet more images in a similar way to the participants of the survey.
Once trained, the AI generated predictions — or aesthetic assessments — for an additional 4,400 photographs, featuring 2,417 of the most common reef fish species.
How zebrafish heal themselves
05:16
This browser does not support the video element.
Why 'ugly' fish need conservation
When the public's ratings were combined with the AI's predictions, the scientists found that bright colorful fish species with rounder bodies tended to be rated as the most beautiful.
That does not bode well for "ugly" fish species or support from the public for conservation, say the researchers.
The study says that the ecological and evolutionary distinctiveness of unattractive fishes makes them important for the functioning of an entire reef and their loss — through a lack of conservation, for instance — could affect these ecosystems high in biodiversity.
'Ugly' fish more likely to be endangered
Not all creatures are made equal and that includes our friends in the sea. A study reveals that less attractive fish need more conservation support.
Image: imageBROKER/picture alliance
Not just a pretty face
A study from the University of Montpellier in France has described the aesthetic value of 2,416 reef fish species for the first time. The study shows that fish rated as less aesthetically pleasing are more in need of conservation support — and that they may be less likely to get it. The mandarin fish (pictured) is not one of them though. It actually has a high aesthetic value.
Image: Rick D. Stuart Smith
Why the long face?
"Most of the fish that people find not beautiful are drab fish with an elongated body shape and no clearly delineated color patterns," said lead study author and ecologist Nicolas Mouquet. Mouquet said that some of the less attractive fish include the white steenbras (pictured), the bluefish and the bocaccio rockfish.
Image: Anka Agency International/picture alliance
The color and the shape
The highest aesthetic values related to the quality and diversity in color of a fish, the saturation of its colors and the presence of well-delineated and repeated patterns. A circular body shape, said researcher Nicolas Mouquet, was ranked higher than long bodies. The bocaccio rockfish (pictured), for instance, has an elongated shape and was found to be less aesthetically pleasing to humans.
Image: NOAA Fisheries/AP Photo/picture alliance
Winner: Bright colors, rounded shape
"For instance, high color heterogeneity (quality) and well-delineated patches of contrasted lightness, as observed in angelfish and butterflyfish, makes them pleasant to [people]," Mouquet told DW.
Image: imageBROKER/picture alliance
Be mindful of aesthetic biases in conservation
Mouquet said that fish aesthetics — what we consider beautiful or ugly — does not always lead to biases in support for or against conservation. But, Mouquet noted, "as we found that less beautiful fish were more in need of conservation, there is a need for us to make sure that our 'natural' aesthetic biases do not turn into a bias in conservation efforts."
Image: imageBROKER/picture alliance
5 images1 | 5
Species listed on a so-called Red List as threatened, or species whose conservation status has yet to be evaluated, had a lower aesthetic value on average than species categorized as of "least concern," say the researchers.
The Red List is maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
What humans find 'beautiful'
Nicolas Mouquet, an ecologist and lead author on the study, told DW that neuroaesthetic studies had shown that certain images tend to be judged as beautiful more than others.
For instance, when elements of an image can be removed from their background or visual features of a subject can be grouped into recognizable objects, that can trigger a sense of aesthetic pleasure in our minds.
The study authors say that our preferences for shape and color, including when we look at fish, may be due to the way the human brain processes colors and patterns.
But there is a mismatch between our sense of aesthetic value, a species' ecological function and its vulnerability to extinction. That, according to the study, means that when it comes to conservation, less attractive species may miss out on public support.
Advertisement
Avoid bias with better communication
Human bias for aesthetically pleasing groups of animals is common.
"Our study highlights important mismatches between potential public support for conservation and the species most in need of this support," said Mouquet, adding that unattractive species also had greater commercial interest.
Mouquet said he hoped researchers would collectively minimize the impact of human perception biases through better communication with the public, policymakers and conservation groups.
Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany
A close look at marine marvels
The ocean is truly home to some of the most amazing creatures, such as species recently discovered under Antarctica. Here's a selection of the world's most interesting aquatic animals.
Image: British Antarctic Survey/dpa/picture alliance
Unknown life
Under permanent ice cover that is hundreds of meters thick in Antarctica, researchers have discovered sessile animals (similar to sponges) that have adapted to extreme conditions like darkness and subzero temperatures, as well as being under such expanses of ice that these organisms are 260 kilometers (155 miles) from the open sea. To what species the rock-bound creatures belong remains unclear.
Image: British Antarctic Survey/dpa/picture alliance
Water dragon
It looks like a seahorse — but it's a red sea dragon, a rare marine fish. Researchers off the coast of Western Australia have only recently been able to admire these live specimens, which were identified in 2015. The animals were observed feeding at a depth of 50 meters (165 feet).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Scripps Oceanography/UC San Diego
Seahorses
The "real" seahorses are also quite unusual. They are one of the few species to swim vertically. But this doesn't work out too well, so they are just poor swimmers. The males carry fertilized eggs and give birth to their young.
Image: picture-alliance/ dpa
Electric eels
Despite its name, an electric eel is not an eel but a knife fish. It is indeed electric, though, and generates powerful electric shocks of up to 600 volts to kill prey. Researchers have learned that the fish also uses its high-voltage discharge as a high-precision tracking device — similar to the echolocation calls of bats.
Image: imago/Olaf Wagner
Banded archerfish
Banded archerfish live in brackish water and have come up with a unique way to kill prey: They spit a jet of water into the air to shoot down insects. Larger fish may even hit targets up to 3 meters away.
This fish buries itself in the sand and waits till its prey passes its head. Then it shoots upward and gets its meal. Stargazers have top-mounted eyes and a large, upward-facing mouth. If you ever see one, be careful: The species is venomous.
Image: picture-alliance / OKAPIA KG
Stonefish
Venomous and good at hiding? The stonefish is both! The species looks exactly like a stone overgrown with algae. But step on it and you will come to know its needlelike venomous spines. It can even be fatal for humans.
Image: gemeinfrei
Puffer fish
Puffer fish have an elastic stomach that they can fill with water when feeling threatened. This way they become much larger and almost spherical in shape. They produce the tetrodotoxin, which can kill humans. In Japan, people eat puffer fish.
Image: picture alliance/Arco Images
Anglerfish
An anglerfish attracts its prey with an illicium, or a fleshy growth from its head. The tip of the illicium illuminates to make prey curious — and then they are swallowed up by the huge mouth of the predator. Anglerfish can be found almost anywhere in the world, including the deep sea.
Image: Flickr/Stephen Childs
Viperfish
With high pressure, almost no light and little food, animals have to be especially adapted to be able to live in the deep sea. Viperfish need to make absolutely sure that they don't miss a meal — that's what the huge mouth and the sharp teeth are for.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Plaice
The plaice is a flatfish — no doubt about that. The well-camouflaged fish bury themselves in the sediment. They develop so that both eyes end up on the same side of the head.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H.Bäsemann
Mudskippers
Mudskippers apparently couldn't decide whether they liked land or water more. So they compromised and chose intertidal habitats. They are definitely fish but can use their pectoral fins to walk on land. They can breathe through their skin like amphibians.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/MAXPPP
Hammerhead shark
Researchers believe that the flat, sideways extended head gives hammerhead sharks a higher visual field. That helps them find their prey.
