Don't Mess with the Bluegills

In the news today, a story emerges of an innovative method of checking water supplies being used in San Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities.

Fish, Bluegills specifically, are kept in special tanks of city water and watched for signs of distress. This includes the fish version of coughing, flexing their gills, as well as changes in breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns.

The system called the Intelligent Aquatic BioMonitoring System was originally developed for the Army. The concept is that water is constantly moved through these fish tanks 24 hours a day while a computerized system watches the fishes' vital signs and sends an email when anything unusual shows up. The system was developed by Intelligent Automation Corporation, a Southern California company.

Bluegills were chosen because they are especially sensitive to such things as cyanide, diesel fuel, mercury, and pesticides. They can detect at least 30 toxic substances in water. In one instance, the fish picked up on a diesel spill two hours before other monitoring systems caught it.

The cost of the operation runs around $45,000.

Source:

CNN.com, "When a Fish Becomes a Canary": September 18, 2006