Researchers have found that Goldfish have a sophisticated navigation system that allows them to estimate distances.
Researchers have shown a wide array of fish can navigate, but questions remain about the mechanisms involved. It's possible that similar brain cells are involved in the internalGPS of the human brain.
The University of Oxford's first author of the latest research wants to know where those cells are.
The tank was created by using vertical stripes on the walls and stripes on the floor.
Nine goldfish were trained to return to their starting position after travelling 70 cm.
The fish were put through a test to see if they could estimate the same distance without using gestures.
When the pattern was changed to 1 cm wide vertical stripes, a checked pattern with 2 cm squares, and to 2 cm-wide horizontal stripes aligned with the fish's direction of travel, the results were compared with the distance they traveled.
The fish were recorded on video as they traveled 45 times.
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When presented with the vertical, 2 cm-wide stripes, the goldfish traveled 74 cm on average, giving or taking 17 cm. The results were similar when the background was changed. The distance the fish traveled was underestimated when the stripes were narrow.
The length of the fish's swim varied greatly when stripes were used. The fish were not even close to perfect.
goldfish use an optic flow mechanism based on visual density of the environment in order to estimate how far they have traveled, according to the team. The fish underestimated how far they had traveled when the width of the stripes was cut.
mammals use a different flow mechanism based on the motion of the visual features The results show that the use of visually based distance information was common in different groups of animals.
The goldfish were more accurate in measuring distance when their start position was closer to the end of the tank, and for some the number of fin beats they made was related to how far they swam.
Prof Colin Lever of the University of Durham, who was not involved in the study, said the research suggested goldfish could use other clues to estimate distance.
Although we already know that fish respond to direction and distance, we don't know how they estimate distances.
Fish navigation has to negotiate the vertical dimensions more fully than most mammals, which makes it exciting to explore.
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