转移注意力是魔术教科书和军事策略中最古老的把戏，如今，一项发表在《当代生物学》（Current Biology）上的研究表明，鱼类可能也会使用这招。
据美国《科学》杂志在线新闻报道，雄大西洋帆鳍鲈一直喜欢体型较大的雌鱼，然而当研究人员让这些雄鱼在一些“观众”——一群能够看到却无法干涉的位于玻璃后面的雄鱼——的面前挑选配偶时，这些雄鱼在很大程度上却会忽略那些大的雌鱼，转而接近那些小鱼。研究人员相信，这些雄大西洋帆鳍鲈假装对那些小雌鱼感兴趣其实是为了迷惑竞争对手。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Current Biology，18: 1138-1141，Martin Plath，Ingo Schlupp
Male Fish Deceive Competitors about Mating Preferences
Martin Plath,1,2,3, Stephanie Richter,2 Ralph Tiedemann,2 and Ingo Schlupp3
1 Unit of Animal Ecology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Maulbeerallee 1, 14469 Potsdam, Germany
2 Unit of Evolutionary Biology and Systematic Zoology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
3 Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, Oklahoma 73019
Summary
A fundamental question in animal communication is whether the information provided is honest or deceptive [1, 2]. This problem has received much attention, both in theoretical [1, 3] and experimental [4] work. Here we show that male Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana), when observed during mate choice by another male, reduce their mating activity and no longer prefer mating with one of two females presented, which can be interpreted as an attempt to avoid unintended interception of information by the rival male. Most importantly, focal males directed their first sexual interaction (after they were presented with the rival male) toward the initially nonpreferred female, suggesting that males deceive other males about their mating preferences. Deception by the choosing male may be an adaptation to avoid sperm competition, because surrounding males may use public information and copy the focal male's mate choice.
