A German scientist has been putting his funding to good use by placing a tank full of goldfish into a plane and then having the plane free fall to simulate zero gravity conditions in order to determine once and for all whether fish are susceptible to seasickness. A) They are. B) What the &%#@?
What is it with Germans and their experiments?
Dr. Reinhold Hilbig, a zoologist from Stutgart, tested 49 fish in the experiment. Eight of them, apparently, began turning in circles.
"The fish lost their orientation, they became completely confused and looked as if they were about to vomit. In the wild such a 'seasick' fish would become prey for others because they are incapable of fleeing from danger," Dr. Hilbig told the Telegraph.
Ok, let's see if we have this straight. If you put a fish into a plane and send the plane into a free fall and that fish is in the 16.326% of fish that are susceptible to free fall-induced seasickness and then you release the fish-- looking like it's going to puke and swimming around in uncontrollable circles-- back into the wild, it may be in danger of being eaten by a predator?
The answer is yes. It's called science.
Brain & Behavior
Comments
I love your comments. Made me burst out laughing.
Posted by: ym | April 22, 2009 3:03 PM
So, some fish are susceptible to motion sickness, others not so much. If provided with a predator, I wonder how many generations it would take to produce a population of resistant fish?
Posted by: phisrow | April 22, 2009 3:19 PM
That is so good to know. I can sleep well tonight knowing that fish get seasick. I want some money to study if cow tipping affects cows in any way.
Posted by: Kirk | April 22, 2009 3:26 PM
I've never seen a fish puke.
Posted by: Greg Laden | April 22, 2009 3:45 PM
I vaguely recall reading something about tropical fish, being transported by ship, getting seasick.
Posted by: Jim Thomerson | April 22, 2009 4:02 PM
I've performed experiments that prove they get airsick, too.
Posted by: Katie, LI | April 22, 2009 7:02 PM
How can you tell a fish is about to vomit?
Posted by: Gary | April 22, 2009 8:07 PM
>> How can you tell a fish is about to vomit?
They lean over the edge of the bowl.
Posted by: Mark Dow | April 23, 2009 12:03 AM
ooooh, do a cow tipping myth bust post!
Posted by: chris | April 23, 2009 9:22 AM
Fish 1: "Dude, man, I'm gonna spew."
Fish 2: "If you're gonna spew, spew into this."
Posted by: Jives | April 23, 2009 9:40 AM
Next let's spend a lot of money to find out how drunk fish have to be before they'll spew on your shoes.
Or at at what point their blood alcohol level makes them unsafe drivers.
It's for science.
Posted by: wicked | April 23, 2009 1:50 PM
thank you..
Posted by: Pets Love | April 25, 2009 4:45 PM
if gently grab them by the tail and then throw them like a throwing star, then pick them up from the other side of the room and do a free throw shot back into the bowl, they tend to be disoriented.
Posted by: djskagnetti | April 26, 2009 8:59 PM
thank you for post
Posted by: maket | April 28, 2009 10:10 AM
thank you for post
Posted by: HipHop | June 15, 2009 2:03 PM
thank you very good ... (thank you admin)
Posted by: Rap | June 15, 2009 2:08 PM