The acclimatisation of the Bluestreak cleanerfish is a delicate point.

Cleaner wrasse maintain symbiotic relationships with other fish.

Finally, the cleaner labre also accepts dry or freeze-dried food.

In captivity, it is better to adopt only one Bluestreak cleanerfish per aquarium.

The team then turned to another candidate: the bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus).

The cleaner wrasse, a small reef fish, can recognize itself in the mirror.

This last takes the appearance of the Bluestreak cleanerfish, offers its “cleaning” services but on the other hand it is a cutter of scales!

A single wrasse works for around four hours a day, and in that time, it can inspect more than 2,000 clients.

A similar dynamic goes on in coral reefs, where a small fish called the cleaner wrasse runs a natural health spa.

A number of species have been identified as cleaners, like this wrasse sitting on a moray eel, or the banded cleaner shrimp on the orange sponge.

So, if the cleaners have passed the mirror test, are they self-conscious?

Look at the image above, a cleaner wrasse is removing the parasites from its host, a fairy basslet nearly the same size.

Kohda counters this alternative explanation of the behavior by noting that it doesn’t explain why the wrasse would check itself in the mirror after scraping its throat.

Cleaner wrasse ( Labroides dimidiatus) may have the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror, which raises many questions about animal intelligence and self-awareness.

I never saw a cleaner [wrasse] swimming on its back, and I never saw a cleaner [wrasse] scratching its throat,” says Bshary, who wasn’t involved in the study.