Saltmarsh at Abbots Hall Farm in Essex, UK

These aerial photos of a saltmarsh at Abbots Hall Farm in Essex look almost like images of a brain.

Water channels slice through the boggy ground cutting out pathways and patterns that resemble the intricate surface of the human brain.

Abbots Hall Farm, which is situated on the Blackwater Estuary, links together over 3,000 acres of wildlife-rich land along a 25 km stretch of the Essex coast.

Picture: Terry Whittaker/2020VISION / Rex Features

Robotic Fish: Essex University

This is no Academic Exercise

A shoal of the 'intelligent' fish will be released into the sea off Spain to track down potentially dangerous leaks from vessels.

The carp-shaped robots are around 1.5 metres long and have chemical sensors which can detect ship fuel and chemicals in water.

Artificial Intelligence

The life-like creatures have an eight-hour battery life and their own navigational abilities, meaning they can move without remote control.

Each pollution-detecting robotic fish costs £20,000. Five of the robots are being released into the Bay of Biscay at Gijon at a cost of around £100,000.

Robotic Carp

The carp-shaped robots are around 1.5 metres long and have chemical sensors which can detect ship fuel and chemicals in water.

Robo Fish Collaboration

The project is part of a three-year partnership between engineering consultancy firm BMT Group and Essex University.

Professor Huosheng Hu from the university said: "The hope is that this will prevent potentially hazardous discharges at sea, as the leak would undoubtedly get worse over time if not located."

Developers say they are simply building on a design created by hundreds of millions of years' worth of evolution.

If successful, they hope the fish could be used around the world on other ecological projects e.g. to prevent the spread of pollution and detect toxic waste.