So You Can Tuna Fish

A tuna fish with several probes sticking out of it.

You know what they say. But it’s 2024, after all. Shouldn’t you be able to tune a fish by now? As [ChromaLock] shows us in the video below, it’s absolutely possible, and has been all along.

Of course, you can’t possibly put a rainbow trout (or any other fish) under tension until it produces audible tones. So, how does it work? [ChromaLock] turned to the skin, which functions electrically much like ours does with different resistance values in different areas.

A cucumber with a dozen or so probes sticking out of it, lined up in a 3D-printed jig.From there, it was a matter of hunting around for spots that produced different notes that sounded good, and marking them for later so it can be played like a potentiometer. But there were problems with this setup, mostly screeching between notes from stray voltages in the environment.

After a brief detour using a PS/2 keyboard with spray-painted keycaps, [ChromaLock] said to hell with it and unearthed a regular MIDI keyboard. Armed with a 3D printed jig to hold the probes, [ChromaLock] tested everything with a cucumber, and then out came the trout for its musical debut. Be sure to check it out after the break.

What else can you do with canned tuna and other fish? Cook up some pyrolized bread, and you’ve got yourself a foundry and crucible.

Thanks to [Zixxorb] for the tip!

10 thoughts on “So You Can Tuna Fish

  1. “Of course, you can’t possibly put a rainbow trout (or any other fish) under tension until it produces audible tones.”

    Ever lifted a plecostomus out of its fish tank? They make a lot of noise when put under tension (stress). :D

  2. From 200 Motels: “He’s using the fish to measure it.” When you perfect the process with Mars bars have Sir Mick wake me and feed me a cherry pie.

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