A shrimp scrap drifted down the face of a mirror, and a small reef fish tracked it like it was watching a slow-motion experiment. The fish, a blue-streak cleaner wrasse, had carried the shrimp upward, ...

Cleaner wrasse quickly learn to recognize themselves in mirrors, and take advantage of the information their reflection provides. They also experiment with the mirror in a way we might call playful, ...

Cleaner wrasse have revealed a remarkable new side of fish intelligence. Marked with fake parasites, they used mirrors to inspect and remove the spots—far faster than seen in earlier tests. Even more ...

In the current study, the scientists observed new behaviors during a series of mirror test experiments, a widely used method ...

Before squaring up for a fight, some fish check themselves out in the mirror to make sure they're big enough. This strange behavior was seen in bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus), who ...

Charlie has an undergraduate degree in Forensic Psychology and writes on topics from zoology and psychology to herpetology.View full profile Charlie has an undergraduate degree in Forensic Psychology ...

Cleaner wrasses (Labroides dimidiatus) thrive in coral reefs around the world. But they’re more than just another pretty face ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. For decades, self-awareness has been guarded as a very ...