Simulation Study of Schooling Motion of Fish based on Two Observed Motions: Approaching Motion and Parallel Orientating Motion

Y. Inada, K. Kawachi, and H. Liu (Japan)

Keywords

fish school, approaching motion, parallel orientating motion, simulation

Abstract

Schooling motion of two species of fish (bearded silverside, Atherion elymus; and striped mullet, or Mugil cephalus) was studied focusing on two types of motion: approaching motion, and parallel orientating motion, which are essential for school formation. Correlation of measured motion parameters (position, body direction, and moving direction) among individuals was used to determine which motion each individual was executing. Conspicuous similarities and differences between two motions were found in the number of interacting neighbors and in the relative position and time delay of motion between interacting individuals. An analytical model to simulate schooling motion was designed based on those experimental results. The simulated schooling motion well reproduced the motion of a natural fish school and was therefore used to clarify the relationship between local interaction among individuals and global properties of schooling motion. Thus, the property of schooling motion based on approaching motion and parallel orientating motion was clarified both quantitatively and qualitatively by the experimental and analytical approach.

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