The animal kingdom has seemingly asserted its dominance in meme culture over the past week.

First, it was feral hogs, after an American pro-gun activist posited his right to bear arms rested on a hypothetical backyard invasion by an angry 30 to 50-strong mob of the wild beasts.

In true online fashion, it was only a matter of days before social media users latched on to another wonder that showcased the true beauty of our relationship with the zoological world.

May we present the salmon cannon, in all its glory.

https://twitter.com/kashthefuturist/status/1159610222148669440

The video, posted over the weekend with a simple caption hinting at the system’s sheer brilliance, has given birth to the latest internet craze.

Wildlife rangers can be seen loading the slippery fish into a pipeline, one by one, to send them on their merry way over the dam wall.

The footage shows the live fish suctioned through the pressurised tube at speeds of up to 18 km/h and out the other side, primed for life in their new spawning ground.

More than 17 million people have now swum into the fish cannon’s view count.

Apart from the system’s ingenuity, the vision is bizarre, if not somewhat futuristic. And it has caused the internet to lose its collective mind.

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1160663345269284869

https://twitter.com/allisongallaghr/status/1160391073660727296

My housemate: so how was your day

Me: sorry can you just give me a moment [spends 15 minutes thinking how to try to explain salmon cannon, without sounding crazy, to a person who doesn’t have twitter]

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) August 11, 2019

The salmon cannon is not a recent invention in relative terms.

Whooshh! Innovations‘ Fish Transport System was established in 2011 as a means of ferrying salmon across dams to fast-track a migratory journey that could sometimes take days to complete.

It also seem to be no strangers in producing creative solutions to tackle aquatic ecosystem issues.

Its other machines have similarly wacky names like the Fish Faucet, the FishL Recognition System and the Gatekeeper.