So far , the list of fauna known to be able torecognize their own reflectionis slim , but now it seems the unsuspecting cleaner fish ( Labroides dimidiatus ) could be the tardy improver .
A study into mirror self - acknowledgment ( MSR ) has look into the reactions of sportsmanlike Pisces to images of themselves and of other phallus of their species . Looking at aggressiveness behaviours , the squad found that the Pisces appeared to be capable to recognize their own individual faces .
test the fish ’s ability to recognize its own reflection , the team first conducted mirror cross tryout . In these examination , a target resemble an ectoparasite was grade on the throat of 10 fish before being shown their own reflection in a mirror . All the sample fish passed this test by exhibit throat trash behavior along the bottom of the armoured combat vehicle in an attempt to remove the surmise parasite .
Video quotation : Kohda et al , PNAS 2023 ( CC BY 4.0 )
Ascleaner fishare make love to play aggressively towards unfamiliar members of their mintage , further examination involve presenting them with still images of cleaner fish . The researchers find that those who had not participated in the mirror mark psychometric test roleplay aggressively to all images of white Pisces irrespective of if it was their own effigy being display . This indicate the mirror tests acted as a way for the Pisces the Fishes to memorize what their own reflection look like .
To test self - face identification power , the team presented the Pisces with either single images of themselves or of an unfamiliar Pisces . In addition , they also showed double composed of the fish ’s own cheek on an unfamiliar Pisces ’s body , or an unfamiliar fish ’s font on their own soundbox .
Interestingly , the results showed the fish acted sharply to any figure in which showed an unfamiliar fish ’s face , suggesting that uninfected Pisces the Fishes showing ego - fount recognition much the same as humans .
In extra examination to ground whether or not the fish were consider the self - paradigm as themselves , the two tests were commingle by putting a marker on the throat of the Pisces in the different images . upshot from this round of testing found that 75 percent of the fish tested exhibited throat scraping behaviour on the images of themselves , but not on the images of other fish , suggesting the clean fish were recognizing the images as being of themselves .
While the mechanism underlying the power remain unclear , and MSR ’s relation toself - awarenessa controversial assumption , it appears ego - recognition may be more far-flung across vastly differing species than antecedently thought .
The paper is issue inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
