Perfect Match: Tied contest gives fish no hormone rush

A male fish produces a burst of hormones as he fights off an intruder. Now, researchers say that this surge isn’t triggered simply by fighting.

SAYS WHO? A male cichlid makes menacing gestures to his mirror image as researchers take advantage of his fight with a perfectly matched “opponent.” E. Gonçalves

“Apparently, the fish need to know whether they are winning,” says Rui Oliveira of the Institute of Applied Psychology in Lisbon, Portugal.