The laboratory was established in 1967 on the initiative of B.P. Manteifel, State Prize laureate, Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences, who headed it until 1986. Its core staff was formed from a group of fish behavior researchers who had worked in the Laboratory of Ichthyology, headed by G.V. Nikolsky, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1986 the laboratory has been headed by Academician D.S. Pavlov, RAS.
