THE LIGHTER SIDE

Fish pass mirror test, but does it mean they’re self-aware?

Scientists report a fish can pass a standard test of recognizing itself in a mirror — and they raise a question about what that means.

Does this decades-old test, designed to show self-awareness in animals, really do that?

Since the mirror test was introduced in 1970, scientists have found relatively few animals can pass it. Most humans can by age 18 to 24 months, and so can chimps and orangutans, says the test’s inventor, evolutionary psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. of Albany College in New York.

Outside of ape species, many researchers say there’s also good evidence for passing the test in bottlenose dolphins, Asian elephants and European magpies.

The test exposes animals to a mirror and looks for reactions that indicate some recognition of themselves.

Passing the test suggests an animal can “become the object of its own attention,” and if it does, it should be able to use its own experience to infer what others know, want or intend to do, said Gallup, who did not participate in the fish study.

The new paper released by PLOS Biology subjected up to 10 fish to various parts of the test.

Frans de Waal, an expert on ape and monkey behavior at Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, said he found the fish results to be inconclusive.

In a journal commentary, de Waal also said it’s better to think of different animals having varying degrees of self-awareness, rather than considering it an all-ornothing trait possessed by just a few species.