When one learns that a goldfish can drive, the immediate response is "again?" The similarity to fish-driven vehicles of old is superficial, but there is a new aspect to the innovation: the goldfish has learned to drive.
There was a goldfish that drove around a little tank, to the delight of the still-innocent world. An object detection system mounted above the tank tracked the position of the fish and moved the cart on which it was mounted in the direction the goldfish swam in. I can't remember my own address, but I remembered this.
It's fun, right? More of a parlor trick than a scientific endeavor. The fish was oblivious to the world and the mechanism that moved it about the room.
Researchers from Ben-Gurion University in Israel have taken it a step further. They use a similar mechanism to detect the position of a goldfish in a tank, and direct the fish to swim in the direction of the sector it swims to.
The stories differ here. The goldfish was set to various tasks that required it to navigate around the larger, non-aquatic world. If the fish went to a red stripe on the side of the room, it would be given a reward.
goldfish are able to learn and remember complex behaviors despite being lacking in the brains department. There is no reason to think that the creature would be able to comprehend the concept of space represented by its tank moving through a larger world.
The researchers put it in the abstract to their paper.
The fish were able to operate the vehicle, explore the new environment, and reach the target regardless of the starting point. The results show how a fish can transfer its space representation and navigation skills to a different environment.
This suggests that the way even the smallest creatures on the order of goldfish get around is not a hard-coded aquatic movement circuit, but something more universal, perhaps one that evolved earlier and at a more basic level than we think. It is an interesting result to be sure, but how abstract or universal is yet to be determined.
It means there is a good chance that you will be able to get a mobile terrarium for your fish, iguana, skink, or even your tarantula, which will allow it to be free of the house. If this idea appeals to you, you might enjoy the story "Surface Tension" by James Blish.
