Swimming behavior of fish during short periods of weightlessness

Birds and fish show tumbling and spinning movements when subjected to short periods of weightlessness during parabolic flight. The reason for this behavior is not clear.

The semicircular canal system is a rotation-detecting device; however, it seems that linear accelerations have an influence, too. Microgravity induces rotatory sensations which leads to a compensatory behavior (e.g., rotatory movements).

The swimming behavior of goldfish was studied with the fish in four different conditions: normal fish (group I); fish with one eye recently removed (group II); fish with both eyes recently removed (group III); and fish with both eyes removed 10 months previously (group IV). Further, a group of naturally blind (e.g., not surgically treated) cavefish (group V) were involved in the study also. All procedures conformed to the guiding principles as required in the Dutch Law on Care and Use of Animals.

Three main different patterns of abnormal swimming behavior could be observed: tumbling (pitch), corkscrew movements (pitch and roll), and spinning movements (roll). NF did not shown any special swimming pattern. One-eyed fish (group II): mostly corkscrew movements (62%). Blind fish (group III): a mixture of the three movements (17, 22 and 25%). Blind fish (group IV): mostly spinning movements (20%). Cavefish (group V): tumbling (21%), corkscrew movements (12%) and spinning movements (58%).

Vision is the dominant cue, explaining the behavior of normal goldfish. When vision is absent, the fish relies on vestibular information with respect to orientation. The swimming behavior is presumably caused by an attempt to compensate rotatory illusions. As all movements were shown in the planes of the vertical canals, we conclude that these canals play a dominant role when fish are deprived from proper otolith information.