Cleaner fish are sensitive to what their partners can and cannot see

Much of human experience is informed by our ability to attribute mental states to others, a capacity known as theory of mind. While evidence for theory of mind in animals to date has largely been restricted to primates and other large-brained species, the use of ecologically valid competitive contexts hints that ecological pressures for strategic deception may give rise to theory of mind-like abilities in distantly related taxonomic groups. In line with this hypothesis, we show that cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) exhibit theory of mind capacities akin to those observed in primates in the context of their cooperative cleaning mutualism. Female cleaners adjusted their cheating as a function of a male partner’s visual access, and these strategic adjustments were related to the male’s tendency to punish. These results suggest that ecological pressures for strategic deception can drive human-like cognitive abilities even in very distantly related species.

Katherine McAuliffe, Lindsey A. Drayton, Amanda Royka, Mélisande Aellen, Laurie R. Santos, Redouan Bshary