< Back to 68k.news NL front page

Tired of Doomscrolling? Try Ringing a Doorbell for Fish.

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1] [2] [3]

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Viewers are glued to an underwater livestream meant to help fish migration in the Netherlands. Devotees welcome the distraction — and the chance to help a fish get frisky.

Knock, knock: A freshwater perch eyeballed the fish doorbell several feet below the surface of a river in the Dutch city of Utrecht.Credit...Mark van Heukelum

Published March 28, 2024Updated April 3, 2024

When friends visit Aliza Haskal's apartment in Syracuse, N.Y., she offers them gripping entertainment: a live feed from a camera six feet below the surface of a cloudy river in the Netherlands.

As soon as a fish glides by, Ms. Haskal hurries to press the website's sole button. It is a doorbell — specifically, a doorbell for fish.

The button helps alert a worker in the Dutch city of Utrecht to crank open a dam, allowing the fish to wriggle toward shallower water where it can spawn.

"It's Utrecht's hottest sex club, accessible via fish doorbell," said Ms. Haskal, a 24-year-old graduate student who lives more than 3,000 miles away. She thinks of herself as a kind of benevolent aquatic bouncer.

Video

A walleye, a predatory fish that lives in murky water and is often active at night.CreditCredit...Mark van Heukelum

The livestream, a modest municipal project to assist fish migration, has become an unexpected hit far beyond Utrecht. In the four years since its debut, it has drawn an international audience eager to help frisky Dutch fish reach warmer waters.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

< Back to 68k.news NL front page