Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish

Fish swimming together in schools interact via multiple sensory pathways, including vision, acoustics and hydrodynamics, to coordinate their movements. Disentangling the specific role of each sensory pathway is an open and important question. Here, we propose an information-theoretic approach to dis...

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Main Authors: Rishita Das, Sean D. Peterson, Maurizio Porfiri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2025-01-01
Series:Flow
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2633425925000145/type/journal_article
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author Rishita Das
Sean D. Peterson
Maurizio Porfiri
author_facet Rishita Das
Sean D. Peterson
Maurizio Porfiri
author_sort Rishita Das
collection DOAJ
description Fish swimming together in schools interact via multiple sensory pathways, including vision, acoustics and hydrodynamics, to coordinate their movements. Disentangling the specific role of each sensory pathway is an open and important question. Here, we propose an information-theoretic approach to dissect interactions between swimming fish based on their movement and the flow velocity at selected measurement points in the environment. We test the approach in a controlled mechanical system constituted by an actively pitching airfoil and a compliant flag that simulates the behaviour of two fish swimming in line. The system consists of two distinct types of interactions – hydrodynamic and electromechanical. By using transfer entropy of the measured time series, we unveil a strong causal influence of the airfoil pitching on the flag undulation with an accurate estimate of the time delay between the two. By conditioning the computation on the flow-speed information, recorded by laser Doppler velocimetry, we discover a significant reduction in transfer entropy, correctly implying the presence of a hydrodynamic pathway of interaction. Similarly, the electromechanical pathway of interaction is identified accurately when present. The study supports the potential use of information-theoretic methods to decipher the existence of different pathways of interaction between schooling fish.
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spelling doaj-art-1392a16c816d48cfaaa72b9735c4e4302025-08-20T01:49:15ZengCambridge University PressFlow2633-42592025-01-01510.1017/flo.2025.14Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fishRishita Das0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9785-5109Sean D. Peterson1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8746-2491Maurizio Porfiri2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1480-3539Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, KA, India Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USADepartment of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, CanadaDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USA Center for Urban Science and Progress, New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USA Department of Biomedical Engineering, New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USAFish swimming together in schools interact via multiple sensory pathways, including vision, acoustics and hydrodynamics, to coordinate their movements. Disentangling the specific role of each sensory pathway is an open and important question. Here, we propose an information-theoretic approach to dissect interactions between swimming fish based on their movement and the flow velocity at selected measurement points in the environment. We test the approach in a controlled mechanical system constituted by an actively pitching airfoil and a compliant flag that simulates the behaviour of two fish swimming in line. The system consists of two distinct types of interactions – hydrodynamic and electromechanical. By using transfer entropy of the measured time series, we unveil a strong causal influence of the airfoil pitching on the flag undulation with an accurate estimate of the time delay between the two. By conditioning the computation on the flow-speed information, recorded by laser Doppler velocimetry, we discover a significant reduction in transfer entropy, correctly implying the presence of a hydrodynamic pathway of interaction. Similarly, the electromechanical pathway of interaction is identified accurately when present. The study supports the potential use of information-theoretic methods to decipher the existence of different pathways of interaction between schooling fish.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2633425925000145/type/journal_articlefish schoolingfluid-structure interactioninformation theorymultimodal interactionstime-series analysis
spellingShingle Rishita Das
Sean D. Peterson
Maurizio Porfiri
Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish
Flow
fish schooling
fluid-structure interaction
information theory
multimodal interactions
time-series analysis
title Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish
title_full Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish
title_fullStr Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish
title_full_unstemmed Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish
title_short Disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish
title_sort disentangling coexisting sensory pathways of interaction in schooling fish
topic fish schooling
fluid-structure interaction
information theory
multimodal interactions
time-series analysis
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2633425925000145/type/journal_article
work_keys_str_mv AT rishitadas disentanglingcoexistingsensorypathwaysofinteractioninschoolingfish
AT seandpeterson disentanglingcoexistingsensorypathwaysofinteractioninschoolingfish
AT maurizioporfiri disentanglingcoexistingsensorypathwaysofinteractioninschoolingfish