Goldfish are capable of driving cars on land, new study finds

These driving fish are proving that fish are probably smarter than we give them credit for.

We all know this little bit of proverbial wisdom: Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

But what happens when you teach a goldfish to drive?

Scientists at Ben-Gurion University in Israel are finding out.

In a delightfully odd new study outlined in the journal Behavioral Brain Research, the researchers set out to explore what happens when you take one species and embed it in the enviroment of another — or, in science jargon, spatial navigation behaviour.

Specifically, the team set out to examine what happens when fish are immersed in a terrestrial environment.

By building a “fish operated vehicle,” or FOV, and teaching six goldfish how to drive, they were able to find out whether a goldfish’s navigational sense translates to land, or whether it’s restricted to water.

The FOVs are essentially a fish tank on wheels, equipped with a computer, camera and a LIDAR — a device that targets objects with lasers and measures their distances. The fish stays immersed in water, where it can breathe, and the tank responds to the fish’s movement. Basically, when the fish swims, the tank moves.