STRUCTURED MODELING OF FISH PHYSIOLOGY

The use of models in simulation and state estimation has proved useful in diverse applications, especially in industrial process control. The project presented here looked into the modeling of fish physiology for applications in fish physiology research and aquaculture. The models deal with gastric evacuation, metabolism, kidneys, gills, the cardiovascular system, and feeding behavior and are based on data from the literature. Model responses are mostly in accord with real responses in principle, but, as with most models of complex biological systems, the numerical accuracy is low in several cases. However, these structured models enable researchers to test hypotheses by altering the submodels and parameters.