Ohio Sea Grant Research to Determine How Algal Blooms Impact Fish’s Vision and Hunting Behavior
Researchers at The Ohio State University are studying how well fish can see both prey and predators underwater, and how that ability is influenced by changes in water clarity. They hope that the research will help Lake Erie fisheries adapt to algal blooms that reduce underwater visibility, which is important to visual hunters such as walleye.
Fish tend to follow a rotating stripe pattern that can be set up around a round tank in the lab. This allows researchers to study how well fish can see in various water conditions – no movement means the water is too murky for them.