FISH -MIRROR TEST- PASS

FISH pass Mirror Test, but does it mean they are self-aware?

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

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

Since the  mirror test was introduced in 1970, scientist have found that 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 in bottlenose dolphins Asian elephants and European magpies, although Gallup is skeptical of those results

The test exposes animals to a mirror and looks for reaction that indicate some recognition of themselves. For example, do the animals do unusual things to see if the image copies them?

Do they appear to use the mirror to explore their own bodies? And if the researchers mark an animal  in  a place the  creature can observe only in the mirror, does the animal try to remove it?

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 Thursday by PLOS Biology subjected up to 10 fish to various parts of the test. [Agencies]

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