- Feb 5, 2002
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Watching a school of fish move can be hypnotic. The way they turn in near-perfect synchronicity is equal parts beauty and evolutionary brilliance.
While scientists know that fish school as a defense mechanism against predators, what researchers from Johns Hopkins University have just discovered is that, while this is true, it’s true not only for the reasons you might expect.
Along with increasing the chance hungry jaws will chomp down on your friend rather than you, swimming in schools actually makes fish more silent, with a group able to sound like a single fish.
“It’s widely known that swimming in groups provides fish with added protection from predators, but we questioned whether it also contributes to reducing their noise,” said senior author Rajat Mittal. “Our results suggest that the substantial decrease in their acoustic signature when swimming in groups, compared to solo swimming, may indeed be another factor driving the formation of fish schools.”
The team created a 3D model based on the common mackerel to simulate different numbers of fish swimming, changing up their formations, how close they swam to one another, and the degrees to which their movements synched. The model, which applies to many fish species, simulates one to nine mackerel being propelled forward by their tail fins.
Continued below.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
While scientists know that fish school as a defense mechanism against predators, what researchers from Johns Hopkins University have just discovered is that, while this is true, it’s true not only for the reasons you might expect.
Along with increasing the chance hungry jaws will chomp down on your friend rather than you, swimming in schools actually makes fish more silent, with a group able to sound like a single fish.
“It’s widely known that swimming in groups provides fish with added protection from predators, but we questioned whether it also contributes to reducing their noise,” said senior author Rajat Mittal. “Our results suggest that the substantial decrease in their acoustic signature when swimming in groups, compared to solo swimming, may indeed be another factor driving the formation of fish schools.”
The team created a 3D model based on the common mackerel to simulate different numbers of fish swimming, changing up their formations, how close they swam to one another, and the degrees to which their movements synched. The model, which applies to many fish species, simulates one to nine mackerel being propelled forward by their tail fins.
Continued below.
Fish Swim in Schools for Stealth–as 100 Fish Make Less Noise Than an Individual Swimming Alone
If fish flapped their fins in unison, there was no reduction in total sound. But if they alternated tail flaps, they canceled out the noise,
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
