What do great apes, bottlenose dolphins, elephants, several bird species, and a small fish called the cleaner wrasse have in common?
They can all recognize themselves in a mirror.
#ThatsWild.
A new study out of Japan found that cleaner wrasses, who happen to be fiercely territorial, can relate directly not only to their mirror images but also to photos. When shown pictures of other fish, they attacked — but not when shown photos of themselves.
They were also seemingly angered by pictures of other fishes’ faces on their own bodies. We don’t blame you, guys: that’s always a bit freaky.
“This study is the first to demonstrate,” says lead researcher Masanori Kohda, “that fish have an internal sense of self.”
Photo: A bluestreak cleaner wrasse by Rickard Zerpe/Flickr.