Do Cleaner Wrasse Fish Really Recognize Themselves? Mirror Self-Recognition in Fish and What It Means
Recent studies are reshaping our understanding of self-awareness in the animal kingdom—particularly with cleaner wrasse fish (Labroides dimidiatus), which have shown evidence of mirror self-recognition (MSR), a trait long thought to be limited to mammals and birds. In experiments, these fish inspected visible marks placed on their bodies only when viewing themselves in mirrors, indicating…