Figure from Hughes 1990
Welcome to the world of fish physics. Many of us understand basic fish behavior and can reach logical conclusions about where the best place to throw a fishing line is. But when we don’t think much further than that we are missing out on some very interesting details of fish behavior. We can never fully understand why we find some fish in one location and some fish in other locations until we consider the concept of fish bioenergetics. Ultimately, fish behavior is a product of bioenergetics, and this web page provides a brief review of this concept to demonstrate how interrelated physics is with fish behavior. First, we will take a look at basic fish bioenergetics, understanding the underlying quantitative principles. Then, we will look at some examples of how physical forces, thermodynamics, and light characteristics are specifically related to fish bioenergetics. Most of these models and ideas are made under the assumption that there is no predation or competition, which are additional factors that will influence behavior.