I spent too much of the day looking up info on brine shrimp brains. Mine have started a graveyard and are tending it. I can't find any evidence that their brains would even be capable of recognizing "get rotting flesh away from live creatures".
When a shrimp dies, they move the body behind the castle. There is nothing blocking them from continuing to move it. They just don't move it back out. But they still go back there to eat algae. They aren't avoiding the decomposing shrimp.
Apparently, their brains are just a little ring of cells that release amino acids and maybe have something to do with metabolism. The nervous system actually controls most things.
I don't know how they know to do this. Not even just instinct. But if a shrimp dies and eggs were already fertilized, they finish developing. I have seen babies coming up from the graveyard.
@weirdfizz This is totally fascinating!
@stueytheround Life is a highly complex science experiment for me. 😄 My elementary school teachers would be so proud.
@weirdfizz I said a few days ago that I had one remaining shrimp in my tank.
Well, now there are 3. One big one, and two that got big enough for me to notice them.
@NoahPaulLeGies The babies are so tiny! Easy to miss until you've suddenly got more shrimp.
@weirdfizz I suddenly got more shrimp. 😲 I didn't add extra eggs or anything. I just had one, then three, then five or six, now I can't even count them all.
@NoahPaulLeGies That's great! I'd bet you had some eggs sitting at the bottom that finally hatched.
They've also been moving little clumps of algae into the castle. That could be a coincidental thing - just drops in there and doesn't get flushed back out. But it means algae growth is picking up, which is healthy for them.