Scientists Train Goldfish to Control a Vehicle Made of a Water Tank and Wheels to Move Toward Targets on Land.
Many believe that animals can only navigate within environments they have evolved in. However, a team of scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, has demonstrated that goldfish can “drive” on land, moving toward designated targets to receive food, New Atlas reported on January 5. The research was published in the journal Behavioural Brain Research.
The vehicle used by the goldfish is called the Fish Operated Vehicle (FOV). It is an acrylic water tank measuring 35 cm x 35 cm x 28 cm, placed on a metal platform with four wheels that can rotate in any direction and are powered by batteries. The position of the fish in the tank is monitored by a downward-facing camera connected to a small computer. This camera is mounted on a long pole that extends from the FOV.
The research team studied six goldfish, each placed in the vehicle individually. They then positioned the vehicle in the center of a rectangular room measuring 3 m x 4 m. One wall of the room was fitted with a colored polypropylene board. Initially, the scientists showed the goldfish that when they reached the board, a piece of food would be dropped into the tank.
The vehicle used by the goldfish is called the Fish Operated Vehicle (FOV).
To reach the location of the board, the goldfish had to learn to drive the FOV. Over several days, they learned that swimming toward the tank’s wall in a certain direction would cause the FOV to move in that direction. When they turned back toward the center of the tank, the vehicle would stop. When the researchers moved the target to another wall, placed obstacles between it and the FOV, or introduced distractions on other walls, the fish still successfully found their way to the correct target.
“The study shows that animals’ navigational abilities are much broader than being limited to specific environments. Secondly, it indicates that goldfish have the cognitive ability to learn how to perform a complex task in an environment that is completely different from the one in which they evolved. Anyone who has ever tried to learn to ride a bicycle or drive a car knows that everything is very challenging at first,” said research fellow Shachar Givon.
