A captive fish seemed to follow the tide

Gosse quotes Ross of Topsham, whose account first appeared in October 1847. Ross reported five months of tide-linked behaviour; this was not a controlled experiment. Gosse rejected the inference that the fish needed these land-water alternations to survive.[[cite:5]] Later experiments found endogenous tidal rhythms in the species, but do not validate the precise five-month claim.[[cite:6]]

A stone in a glass vessel, a tide outside, and a fish that seemed to know the time.
A fish with a tide clock?
In 1847, a keeper named Ross reported that his captive shanny kept trying to leave the water.
A perch revealed a pattern.
Ross reported: out near low tide, back in the water at high tide.
The rhythm could carry on.
Later experiments found that this species could keep a tidal rhythm in the lab, away from the changing sea.

A captive fish seemed to follow the tide

Explore related topics