A model against the flow

Fish with multicolored waves radiating off.

A silhouette of a fish swimming in a channel, with the surrounding flow generated by the vortex-based model used by Porfiri, Zhang and Peterson.

Institute Professor Maurizio Porfiri and his team have created a mathematical model that uncovers the hydrodynamic mechanism that causes fish to swim against the flow of current. This research could help biologists in designing experiments detailing the multisensory nature of rheotaxis. Evidence of the importance of bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions on fish orientation may also inform modeling research on fish behavior.