A simulation study on schooling behaviour of fish in a water tank

Abstract

In this paper the schooling behaviour of fish in a water tank is investigated. A mathematical model is presented for the schooling mechanism offish. A water tank experiment is carried out by leaving five small fish in a small tank which is only a few centimetres deep. By using this observation data, the unknown parameters of the model are estimated. Then the model obtained is used to simulate schooling behaviour in a tank. In this simulation, two cases are considered. In the first case the simulation is carried out without considering any random factors. Some deterministic behaviours of fish school are shown. In the second case random variables are added to the model. We examine school trajectory, school size, speeds of individuals and their correlations and distributions. Simulation results are compared with the results obtained from observation data.