Saturday, June 1, 2013

Leading Fish

Scientists at the Polytechnic Institute at New York University have been studying how fish react to fake robotic fish. They have found that when the robot fish waves its tale rapidly other fish are most likely to stay near it. Their goal is to find out what behaviors attract fish and what repel them so that some day we may be able to guide fish away from dangerous locations.


Link:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121120122051.htm

NOS themes:
- science is collaborative
- science is tentative
- role of curiosity

4 comments:

  1. I found your article to be really interesting, so I found a similar link: http://www.poly.edu/press-release/2012/03/01/what-makes-robot-fish-attractive-hint-its-moves
    The article stated that in nature fish that lead a school move their tail faster and the followers' tail moves at a slower rate. The scientist think they could help lead fish away from toxic situations or human-made dangers such as dams.

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  2. I definitely agree that robot fish are an important part in making discoveries about fish behavior. Robot fish are also important in gathering data regarding water pollution. Scientists created a robot fish, looking like a carp, that has tiny sensors on it to collect pollution data in the port of Gijon. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090320-robot-fish-video.html

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  3. I dont really think this is a good idea. If this robot was used for its intended purpose it could benefit the depleted ocean fishery. However I'm pretty sure fishing corporations would use this device to catch the remaining of the already depleted fish population. I watched the move End of The Line. Shed a lot of light onto the current world fishing practices.

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  4. I agree with Krisna. I believe big fishing companies may try to use this to their advantage like they do with most everything else. Fish are pretty good at avoiding danger unless it comes in the form of a net or hook with a human attached to the other end. This could complicate the already troublesome problem.

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