Games Fish Play: Making Decisions As a Social Forager

Suppose a customer wishes to buy a bag of fruit in a market hall during his lunch break and has the choice between two crowded fruiterers' shops. The complexity of problems inherent in such a situation has been increasingly appreciated by behavioural ecologists interested in social foraging of animals. The recognition of consistent individual differences in competitive ability and their incorporation into classical game theoretical models has recently facilitated a step forward in our understanding of social foraging. Here I review theoretical developments in connection with experiments on resource sharing in foraging fish.