Cleaner wrasse show self awareness in stunning mirror experiments

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These tiny reef fish may be far more self-aware than anyone imagined. Cleaner fish have been found to exhibit mammal-like cognitive abilities in the presence of their own reflection. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan have identified a newly documented behavior in cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus). When the small reef fish were given access to a mirror, they did more than simply recognize their reflections. They also began experimenting with the mirror using bits of food. The findings suggest these highly social fish are capable of a sophisticated cognitive process known as 'contingency testing,' a level of intelligence more commonly associated with marine mammals such as dolphins. The research team was led by Specially Appointed Researcher Shumpei Sogawa and Specially Appointed Professor Masanori Kohda at the Graduate School of Science. In earlier work, the team demonstrated that cleaner wrasse could recognize themselves in photographs. This new behavior emerged during mirror test experiments, a widely used
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