working on the translation, please do not cut in for the moment - Kils 18:26 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)
the ecoSCOPE is an underwater environmental monitoring system, utilizing the orientation capacity of juvenile glasseel.
It is a product of the new initiative of "Ocean Online Biosensors": a synthesis of IT-sensoric and the sensing capability of ocean organisms. It is the opinion of many scientists that eels developed the finest nose of the planet. They can sense concentrations of 5 x 10-14, or one part in 19 trillion. This is the same concentration as one glass of alcohol in the waters of all Great Lakes.
Depicted on the image is the central-unit. On all four corners are little entrances, through which water from different sources enter (rivers and creeks in New Jersey. It flows through a small labyrinth and mixes in the central chamber. It exits through a small tube in the middle. The glasseels migrate through this small tube heading into the current. In the middle is the entrance for the eels. They test the different Water qualities and migrate towards the corner, where they exit. For the eels the sensoric impressions are probably as diverse as the colors visible for us. The system is submerged, and a digital camera observes the exits. The software package dynIMAGE (sponsored by VOLKSWAGEN STIFTUNG) monitors the frequency of decisions per exit. Many thousand of glasseels pass through the system on a single day. The three exits in the left lower corner carry water from polluted sources (one is a drinking water reservoir). The ecoSCOPE system raised already quite some turbulences (on the political level). For the future it is anticipated to deploy such systems contineously online, within the project LEO Projekt off New York, visible for all. Tests have also been performed with different qualites of drinking waters and with high solutions of runnoff-juice from different samples meat (fish).
More info: american eel and Eel story
Short movie of migrating glasseels:
Detail of the mixing chamber - Closeup on the migrating glasseels - visible through the transparent skin are the gills and the heart
The little tube extending from the nose is visible