Scientists find that fish can recognize themselves in photos - study

A team of researchers has found that fish recognize themselves from a picture. “Here, we show that cleaner fish, known to scientists as Labroides dimidiatus, likely recognize their own mirror image using a mental image of the self-face comparable to humans. Cleaner fish maintain cleanliness in fish tanks by consuming parasites and dead skin, thereby serving as housekeepers for other fish species,” the researchers said. Picture of a Blue Tilapia (credit: Courtesy)The study appeared in the journal Proceedings of the (US) National Academy of Sciences under the title “Cleaner fish recognize self in a mirror via self-face recognition like humans.”Interestingly, the cleaner fish did not attack photos with their own faces but did attack those with the faces of unfamiliar cleaner fish. While showing those same fish pictures of themselves without parasite marks or of a familiar cleaner fish with parasite marks did not cause them to rub their throats.