Data from: Retention of learned predator recognition in embryonic and juvenile rainbow trout

Minimizing predation risk, especially for young or naïve individuals, can
be achieved by learning to recognize predators. Embryonic learning may
optimize survival by allowing for the earliest possible response to
predation threats post-hatch. However, predatory threats often change over
an individual’s lifetime, and using old information can be detrimental if
it becomes outdated. Adaptive forgetting allows an individual to discount
obsolete information in decision-making, and instead emphasize newer, more
relevant information when responding to predation threats. Little is known
about the extent to which young individuals can learn and forget
information about predation threats. Here we demonstrate that rainbow
trout 1) are capable of learning from both conspecific and heterospecific
alarm cues as embryos, newly-hatched and free swimming larvae, 2) exhibit
adaptive forgetting of predator information at all stages, and 3) display
dynamic adaptive forgetting based on the ontogeny of learning.
Specifically, fish that learned information as embryos retained that
information for longer periods than those that learned the same
information as newly-hatched alevins.