Title:

Modifying a Variable Speed Flow Chamber to Test Lumpfish Sucker Strength

Lumpfish are a small pelagic fish found in the North Atlantic and the adjacent locations of the Arctic Ocean. Juvenile Lumpfish are a sustainable way to minimize the risk of sea lice infestations within salmon and steelhead trout farms. Lumpfish have a natural method of resisting strong currents by the use of a suction disc on their ventral side to adhere to objects to prevent being swept away. It is unknown if the Lumpfish suction strength can resist the varied water velocities they might experience at the farms. In 2021 a project was started to design a way to test the suction strength of Lumpfish. The first group built a flume to test the suction strength of juvenile Lumpfish under varied water velocities. The goal of the flume is to achieve water velocities between 4 and 60 cm/s with steady flow. At higher speeds, the flow produced by the thruster is turbulent and unsteady. Our task is to analyze the current flow of the flume and figure out a method of getting the flow in the testing section steady.

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