There is a myth that goldfish only have three seconds of memory, and it can give us the wrong idea about their mental abilities.. In a new study, scientists have found that some fish can recognize themselves in photographs, meaning they are part of a fairly limited group of self-aware animals, according to New Atlas..

Having self-awareness means that animals have higher mental abilities.. It is usually tested using mirrors: many animals, such as dogs, react to the reflection as if it were someone else, but some are able to recognize themselves.. Apes, dolphins, elephants and some birds managed to pass the test. Children can handle it starting at about a year and a half.

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A few years ago, scientists decided to see if cleaner wrasse fish could pass the mirror test.. They tagged the fish and placed a mirror in the aquarium.. Many fish saw a mark in the mirror and tried to erase it from their throats, which indicated that they recognized themselves in the reflection.. If the mark was placed on a mirror or on a fish in a neighboring aquarium, the fish did not try to remove it..

In a new study, scientists went one step further and decided to test whether the fish can recognize themselves in the photo.. Each cleaner wrasse was shown four pictures: one of himself, a friend of an unfamiliar fish, a third of his face on the body of an unfamiliar fish, and a fourth of an unfamiliar face on his body..

Cleaner wrasses defend their territory and will attack anyone who trespasses on it.. In this case, they threw themselves at photographs of other fish, but did not touch their own.. Neither did they attack the photo of a fish with a strange body, but with its own face.. That is, fish recognize facial features better than bodies..

This experiment shows that fish can not only recognize themselves in a mirror by matching their movements, they can build a mental model of their face.. Only those fish that learned how to handle a mirror were able to pass the photo test..

Chinese scientists have previously announced that they have successfully cloned " Chinese media say this is a breakthrough for the country's dairy industry, which could reduce its dependence on imported breeds..