Conditioned motor reactions in free-moving elasmobranchs and bony fishes.

Food-getting conditioned motor reflexes to light and darkness discrimination were developed in elasmobranchs (the sharks Scyllium canicula and Galleus canis) and bony fishes (Mugil capitocum). Several distinctions in ecological and conditioned motor behavior were observed in sharks with low and high degrees of organization. There were significant differences between elasmobranchs and bony fishes in ecological and food-getting behavior and in conditioned reflex reactions. The nervous activity of elasmobranchs is characterized by a lower and more primitive degree of organization, compared to bony fishes.