Science is Fun Fridays!

 

The mirror test has been used in behavioral psychology to determine whether an animal, or young child, possesses self-recognition.

Great apes, Asiatic elephants, dolphins, orcas, and Eurasian magpies have all passed.  Now scientists have found the ability in fish as well, such as the Bluestreak cleaner wrasse.

A mark is placed on the animal's face and then shown the mirror: the fish were injected with a dye under the scales of their throat, and only after they saw themselves did they begin to scrape their throats on sand in the tank.

Animal sociologist, Masanori Kohda, has taken this test to another level by showing the fish photographs of other cleaner fish, and they were able to distinguish their own.

"This suggests the fish identify themselves the same way humans are thought to - by forming a mental image of one's face."

Of course, there may be other clues involved, such as colors, but the important takeaway is the realization that small brained animals aren't as lacking in intelligence as we may have assumed.

Animal behaviorist, Jonathan Balcombe, points out that fish have been shown to have complex behavior such as tool use, planning and collaboration.

SN