 There are several examples of fish being deceptive, suggesting to some researchers that they may possess a theory of mind.However, most of the observations of deception can be understood as instinctive patterns of behavior that are triggered by specific environmental events, and they do not require a fish to understand of the point of view of other individuals.In the threespine stickleback ("Gasterosteus aculeatus"), males sometimes see their nest full of eggs fall prey to groups of marauding females; some males, when they see a group of females approaching, swim away from their nest and start poking their snout into the substrate, as would a female raiding a nest.