Have you notice that your Koi appears to be smaller when they are viewed in the pond compared to when they are in a bowl? Or is it just me?
I remember occasions when I put my Koi into the bowl and they wow me with their size although they don’t appear to be that big when they are in the pond. I also remember occasions when I added a new Koi that I bought from the local dealer and they appear to be smaller once they are released into the pond!
Maybe there is a logical explanation for this.
Have you experience or heard about the Moon Illusion? The Moon Illusion is that the Moon appears bigger when seen near the horizon than when it is high up in the sky. Actually, the angular size of the Moon is unchanged as the Moon moves across the sky. It is just an optical illusion or the brain playing tricks.
It could be that the Koi illusion is due to the same effect. A Koi in the pond is like the Moon high up in the sky. There is little reference in terms of scale to allow your brain to calculate the true size. A Koi in the bowl allows your eyes and brain to compute the size more realistically. Hence the optical illusion.
Maybe that’s why the local Koi dealer always offer to catch the few Koi of interest to put into bowls for me to inspect closely. Is this part of good service or something else? Hmmm…
A simple explanation, when you are viewing the koi in a blue tub, the koi is less than 0.5m away. When you put it in a pond, your viewing distance is at least 1.5m or more away. And new koi normally stays at the bottom so it would seem smaller when you view it in your home pond.
ReplyDeleteI observe another phenomena of size changes in my pond. I noticed that if I view my kois from my 2nd floor balcony, they look much bigger than when I am viewing at ground level. Perhaps this is the magnifying effect of the water?