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Seasick Fish

By bleimanb on April 22, 2009.

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 &%#@?

i-b147a2d654932ff25d7d02ccf662b348-Goldfish Sick.jpg

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.

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goldfish
hilarious experiments
hilarious experiment

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I love your comments. Made me burst out laughing.

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?

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.

I vaguely recall reading something about tropical fish, being transported by ship, getting seasick.

By Jim Thomerson (not verified) on 22 Apr 2009 #permalink

I've performed experiments that prove they get airsick, too.

How can you tell a fish is about to vomit?

>> How can you tell a fish is about to vomit?

They lean over the edge of the bowl.

ooooh, do a cow tipping myth bust post!

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.

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.