Catfish with distaste for preservatives

The effect of food quality on the electrodetection performance of two catfish, Ictalurus nebulosus (LeSueur, 1819), was assessed in a two-alternative forced-choice experiment while the fish were performing at threshold level. Three different types of food were administered, namely minced beef paste (N), minced beef paste with 0.7\% Butylparaben (B), and fish food pellets (P). When fed and rewarded with minced beef paste the fish made a maximum number of correct choices. Minced beef paste with 0.7\% Butylparaben reduced the response performance to approximately 50\%. When fish food pellets were used, the performance returned to maximum again. It is concluded that such conditioning experiments are suitable for quantifying the aversiveness of food.