Oceanology: To Catch a Tired Fish

Why do swift and agile fish get caught in slow-moving nets? They simply get tired. This seaborne secret was documented recently when skindivers of the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries hung on the mouth of a big submerged trawl and took movies of fish as they were caught. The net moved through the water as slowly as 2 m.p.h., a pace that most fish can exceed with ease. But the skindivers learned that, fast as fish are, most of them are too lazy to take evasive measures. They swim languidly for a while...

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