Shedd Aquarium Research Reveals Bluegills in Chicago River Are 'Marathoners,' Challenging 'Homebody' Perception
Austin Happel, a researcher at Shedd Aquarium, has been tracking fish movement in the Chicago River using telemetry tags to understand their habitat use and behavior. His research has overturned previous assumptions, particularly regarding bluegills. While some bluegills exhibited typical 'homebody' behavior, others displayed an unexpected range. One-third of the 15 tagged bluegills covered five miles or more in a single day, with one individual, dubbed the 'marathoner,' swimming nearly 7.5 miles daily on multiple occasions. This level of endurance, scaled to human size, is equivalent to swimming 52 miles, a distance comparable to Navy Pier to Racine, Wisconsin. Happel calculated that this bluegill moved at 4,000 body lengths per hour, surpassing the 3,000 body lengths per hour of an elite human marathon swimmer. This finding highlights the remarkable athletic capabilities of fish in the Chicago River, a waterway that is home to approximately 80 species.
