A TREADMILL FOR FISH – A DISPATCHES FROM THE GULF SHORT
In an initiative created by Dispatches from the Gulf called “50 short”, Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative scientists and researchers are interviewed on multiple topics relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, its impacts and the connection to society, in short videos.
Produced in June 2016, RECOVER’s lead PI Dr. Martin Grosell from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science discusses research using swim tunnel respirometry, also known as a fish treadmill, in the short entitled “A Treadmill for Fish”. Specifically, Dr. Grosell discusses the swim performance research utilizing mahi-mahi from the University of Miami’s Experimental Hatchery.
To determine how oil exposure impacts the swimming behavior and performance of mahi-mahi, the fish are placed into a swim chamber where water flow within the chamber is slowly increased over time until the fish can no longer swim at the generated speed. When this occurs, the fish is pushed to the back of the chamber, which is considered a failure and the experiment is ended. Through this research, it has been shown that when mahi-mahi are exposed to oil they were not able to swim as well as non-exposed fish.
Watch the short and see what Dr. Grosell has to say about this topic.
