Nature is a source of inspiration for scientists and engineers seeking to develop artificial systems with applications relevant to human needs. Organisms’ ability to perceive and respond to their surroundings provides a rich repertoire of phenomena worth emulating. Among these is the ability of fish to catch prey in turbulent environments, which has applications in sectors such as search and rescue and the detection of explosive ordnance. The EU-funded RIDING project is studying how fish integrate multiple sensory signals and combine detection with navigation to adapt to choppy waters and catch their prey. The insights gained are inspiring physics-based algorithms, utilising computational fluid dynamics and machine learning to perform these calculations.