Scientists show that fish have self-awareness (and can recognize themselves in the mirror)

As a new study shows, some fish also have the ability to "recognize themselves in the mirror"

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

The ability of an animal to recognize itself in the mirror, also known as the "mirror test", is primarily characteristic of chimpanzees, but also of other species such as horses, elephants and killer whales. To these, however, some fish should be added, such as Labroides dimidiatus. This is what emerged from a research conducted by Osaka City University in collaboration with Swiss and German universities that it has verified the faculty of self-awareness of the cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus.

The study, published in the scientific journal PLOS Biology, observed 18 specimens of tropical saltwater cleaner fish, on which similar tests had already been performed in 2019. This species, according to the new results, has proven itself perfectly able to recognize himself in the mirror which has been placed in its aquarium for a variable amount of time.

However, the experiment conducted in this way was subject to criticism by some scholars who did not consider it correct to speak of self-awareness in this animal species, alluding to the fact that the cleaner fish had simply seen another animal and not its reflected figure. However, this thesis has been demolished by an elementary fact: the behavior of the Labroides dimidiatus in front of the mirror. The cleaner fish, which in the presence of others of its kind should generally have been competitive to defend its territory, has not shown any signs of aggression and this according to experts is a first evident proof of self-awareness, but the road is still long. since when the test was repeated by rotating the mirror the fish initially responded by attacking the window.

According to Professor Kohda, one of the co-authors of the study, the results of the tests carried out are indeed astonishing, but more research is needed to say with certainty that this fish, as well as other animals, is endowed with self-awareness. The mirror test, conceived by the American psychologist Gordon Gallup, should however be revised also following some controversies that have emerged from similar tests on this species.

In any case, this study does nothing but show that there are many living creatures endowed with an intelligence form and fish, albeit in a clearly different way compared to the human brain, are no less.

Fonte: PLOS Biology

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