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PLEASE HELP

a marine biologist tags 50 fish at lake ness and releases them. five days later, he captures 75 fish and finds that 3 of them are tagged. assuming the population of fish has remained constant over the five days and that this sample is an accurate representation of the portion of the fish in the lake that are tagged, how many fish are in the lake?

User Barin
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2 Answers

16 votes
16 votes
75 divided by 3 because for every 75 fish 3 are tagged 1,217 (rounded up from 1,216.6 repeating)
User Tatactic
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29 votes
29 votes

Final answer:

The estimated number of fish in Lake Ness is 1,250 based on the mark and recapture method. This method assumes certain conditions and has limitations.

Step-by-step explanation:

The mark and recapture method is used to estimate the population size of animals. In this case, the marine biologist tagged 50 fish and released them into Lake Ness.

Five days later, he captured 75 fish and found that 3 of them were tagged.

Using the mark and recapture equation (N = (n1 * n2) / m)

Where

N is the total population size

n1 is the number of tagged fish in the first catch

n2 is the number of fish in the second catch

m is the number of recaptured fish

We can estimate the population size.

Plugging in the values, we have N = (50 * 75) / 3 = 1,250 fish.

Therefore, the estimated number of fish in Lake Ness is 1,250.

It's important to note that the mark and recapture method assumes certain conditions, such as a constant population size over the sampling period and an accurate representation of the tagged portion in the second catch. There are limitations to this method, including potential biases and errors.

User Iconique
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