Academics

The lateral line system is a sensory system that is essential for the detection of movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in surrounding water (Jiang, 2019). It consists of receptor organs that contain mechanosensory hair cells that connect to the surrounding water, called neuromasts, which are distributed across the entire body (Bleckmann, 2009).  

Many past studies have observed how fish swimming mechanics may change when vision is disabled, leading to a heavier reliance on the lateral line system (Stinson et al., 2020). In one study, it was found that disabling the vision system reduces the fish’s distance from the flapper, and that manipulating the turbulence of the water also impacted the way the fish swims (Stinson et al., 2020). Previous research shows that turbulent flows create instabilities that can negatively impact the fish’s swimming abilities. This includes increased oxygen intake and reduced swimming speed, which can be detrimental to fish in predator-prey situations. However, through the use of their lateral line system, fish use turbulence to their advantage and save energy when their body movements are in accordance with turbulence (Liao, 2007). 

When swimming, fish are able to move in three dimensions. One of these dimensions is pitch, which is the quantitative measurement of the up and down movement of the fish’s body (Schwalbe, 2022). There has been very little research done on the relationship between the vision system and pitch, hence why our study aims to determine how disabling vision systems can affect fish’s swimming mechanics. We hypothesize that if we manipulate the fish’s vision system, it will impact the stability of the fish in terms of its distance and pitch. By disabling the vision system in turbulent water, the fish will have a decreased distance from the flapper and increased pitch compared to less turbulent water.  

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