The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
How do bigger fish attack and capture smaller fish? Or for that matter, your fishing lure?
The Liao Laboratory, in collaboration with colleagues at UC Irvine, set out to investigate and found that local predatory bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) cannot anticipate intercepting their fleeing prey, mudminnows (Fundulus heteroclitus).
Therefore, the strategy of bluefish is unlike flying predators like insects, bats and raptors, which move directly towards the anticipated point of interception.
These findings offer a mathematical foundation for understanding the sensing and locomotor capabilities of predatory fishes.