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A fish driving a “car”… Scientists are shocked by the results of the strangest experiment

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From time to time, scientists conduct exciting experiments with the aim of studying phenomena or coming up with some results, but one of the studies that a team of researchers applied to a small fish was ranked among the most strange and exciting experiments recently.
And spread widely in the scientific community and on social media, a very strange video of a fish driving what can be described as a “water car” that was equipped with engines, as the gold fish drove its strange car around the room as part of a study conducted by a team aimed at understanding the way golden fish move in their environment .
Sammah rides in her water car, an “inverted submarine”
Golden fish and many other types of fish roam the depths of the water in search of food or shelter to survive, but scientists did not understand how these fish can navigate in “aquatic space”, that is, in their environment, as scientists considered that the way fish swim between coral reefs that gives them It has its own brain networks that may benefit humans on Earth, so the team decided, according to the study published in the Journal of Behavioral Brain Research, to take out the fish and monitor it on land, that is, outside its environment.
“Because fish are notorious for not surviving without water, we had to build this upside-down submarine.”
This submarine, if it is called a fish-powered vehicle (FOV), was a plastic aquarium mounted on a small platform with wheels, and a single goldfish in the tank could drive the vehicle simply by swimming.
But Jevon and his co-researchers from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University proved that the “fish car” was more than just a fun event, as they just had to give the fish a place to go.
In the study, 6 goldfish were trained to experiment with their field of view, within the aquarium, and according to the researcher, “The training was the easiest part… I simply put them in a position where they learn what’s going on around them.”

Amazing results that may surprise some
At first, the movement of each fish was erratic as it swam from side to side in its wandering tank, but eventually, Jevon claims, the fish began to connect the dots, and its movements became calmer and more purposeful.
“If you put a person in a car for the first time without telling them anything about it, they will realize that what they do with the steering wheel is important in the way the car travels… The same goes for fish, they realize,” the researcher told Live Science. It’s slow, but it’s all on its own.”

At first, the experiments were very simple, but as the experiment developed, the researchers placed a pink paper square on the ground away from the car, where the researchers gave the fish a reward with each passing over this square.
After a few days, the random movement of the car in the room turned into a direct movement towards the specified target “square”, but the researchers considered this goal to be simple, so the researchers placed obstacles and imaginary targets in the room in an attempt to force the fish to adapt to changes in its environment, but after The fish got used to these obstacles, they simply managed to overcome them.

“This research indicates that goldfish can learn to navigate completely unfamiliar environments, not just specific environments, such as coral reefs.”

Researchers are working on studying how fish learn to navigate longer routes and in different situations. “We want fish to go out and navigate in a natural human environment,” Jevon said. This could allow researchers to observe how fish make decisions in more dynamic unfamiliar environments.

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