Range Of Swimming Speeds Research Articles

Intermittent propulsion in largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, increases power production at low swimming speeds.

Locomotion dominates animal energy budgets, and selection should favour behaviours that minimize transportation costs. Recent fieldwork has altered our understanding of the preferred modes of locomotion in fishes. For instance, bluegill employ a sustainable intermittent swimming form with 2-3 tail beats alternating with short glides. Volitional swimming studies in the laboratory with bluegill suggest that the propulsive phase reflects a fixed-gear constraint on body-caudal-fin activity. Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) also reportedly display intermittent swimming in the field. We examined swimming by bass in a static tank to quantify the parameters of volitional locomotion, including tailbeat frequency and glide duration, across a range of swimming speeds. We found that tailbeat frequency was not related to speed at low swimming speeds. Instead, speed was a function of glide duration between propulsive events, with glide duration decreasing as speed increased. The propulsive Strouhal number remained within the range that maximizes propulsive efficiency. We used muscle mechanics experiments to simulate power production by muscle operating under intermittent versus steady conditions. Workloop data suggest that intermittent activity allows fish to swim efficiently and avoid the drag-induced greater energetic cost of continuous swimming. The results offer support for a new perspective on fish locomotion: intermittent swimming is crucial to aerobic swimming energetics.

Regional variation in directed swimming by Atlantic salmon smolts leaving Scottish waters for their oceanic feeding grounds—a modelling study

Abstract An understanding of the migratory trajectories and behaviours of Atlantic salmon post-smolts during the early marine phase of their life cycle is needed for effective conservation and marine planning. A simulation study of post-smolt migration from Scottish shores was carried out, combining a high-resolution hydrodynamic model of the Scottish continental shelf with a Lagrangian particle tracking model. Various different notional swimming behavioural scenarios were simulated, including current-orientated and compass-directed movement across a range of swimming speeds. Current-following behaviours did not facilitate migration towards feeding grounds in the North Atlantic. In addition, modelled trajectories resulting from directed-swimming behaviours imply that populations around Scotland need to adopt different locally adapted migratory strategies to successfully reach their feeding grounds.

Drag of suction cup tags on swimming animals: Modeling and measurement

AbstractBio‐logging tags are widely used to study the behavior and movements of marine mammals with the tacit assumption of little impact to the animal. However, tags on fast‐swimming animals generate substantial hydrodynamic forces potentially affecting behavior and energetics adversely, or promoting early removal of the tag. In this work, hydrodynamic loading of three novel tag housing designs are compared over a range of swimming speeds using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Results from CFD simulation were verified using tag models in a water flume with close agreement. Drag forces were reduced by minimizing geometric disruptions to the flow around the housing, while lift forces were reduced by minimizing the frontal cross‐sectional area of the housing and holding the tag close to the attachment surface. Hydrodynamic tag design resulted in an experimentally measured 60% drag force reduction in 5.6 m/s flow. For all housing designs, off‐axis flow increased the magnitude of the force on the tag. Experimental work with a common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) cadaver indicates that the suction cups used to attach the types of tags described here provide sufficient attachment force to resist failure to predicted forces at swimming speeds of up to 10 m/s.

Dramatic effect of pop-up satellite tags on eel swimming

The journey of the European eel to the spawning area in the Sargasso Sea is still a mystery. Several trials have been carried out to follow migrating eels with pop-up satellite tags (PSATs), without much success. As eels are very efficient swimmers, tags likely interfere with their high swimming efficiency. Here we report a more than twofold increase in swimming cost caused by a regular small satellite tag. The impact was determined at a range of swimming speeds with and without tag in a 2-m swimming tunnel. These results help to explain why the previous use of PSATs to identify spawning sites in the Sargasso Sea was thus far unsuccessful.

Natural egg mass deposition by the Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) in the Gulf of California and characteristics of hatchlings and paralarvae

The jumbo or Humboldt squid, Dosidicus gigas, is an important fisheries resource and a significant participant in regional ecologies as both predator and prey. It is the largest species in the oceanic squid family Ommastrephidae and has the largest known potential fecundity of any cephalopod, yet little is understood about its reproductive biology. We report the first discovery of a naturally deposited egg mass of Dosidicus gigas, as well as the first spawning of eggs in captivity. The egg mass was found in warm water (25–27°C) at a depth of 16 m and was far larger than the egg masses of any squid species previously reported. Eggs were embedded in a watery, gelatinous matrix and were individually surrounded by a unique envelope external to the chorion. This envelope was present in both wild and captive-spawned egg masses, but it was not present in artificially fertilized eggs. The wild egg mass appeared to be resistant to microbial infection, unlike the incomplete and damaged egg masses spawned in captivity, suggesting that the intact egg mass protects the eggs within. Chorion expansion was also more extensive in the wild egg mass. Hatchling behaviours included proboscis extension, chromatophore activity, and a range of swimming speeds that may allow them to exercise some control over their distribution in the wild.

Red muscle recruitment during steady swimming correlates with rostral–caudal patterns of power production in trout

Rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (or charr, Salvelinus fontinalis) display different rostral–caudal patterns of power production by the red or aerobic muscle during steady swimming. The anterior muscle of rainbow trout produces much less power for swimming than the posterior, while in brook trout there is no variation in power output. To determine if red muscle recruitment is associated with anterior–posterior patterns of power production, electromyography (EMG) was used to record red muscle activity at three body positions across a range of swimming speeds in fish of each species. The initial recruitment of the anterior red muscle in swimming rainbow trout was predicted to lag behind, i.e. occur at higher speeds, that of the posterior due to the variation in power production, but no variation in recruitment was expected for brook trout. Burst of red muscle EMG activity occurring with each tailbeat was analyzed for frequency (tailbeat frequency), duty cycle (DC) (duration of burst relative to the period of the tailbeat) and burst intensity (BI) (magnitude of the measured EMG activity). Brook trout swam with higher tailbeat frequencies and longer values of DC than rainbow trout. Both species showed a pattern of longitudinal variation in DC, with longer DC values in the anterior red muscle. BI also differed significantly along the length of rainbow trout but not brook trout. In the former, BI of anterior muscle was significantly less than the posterior at lower steady swimming speeds. The EMG data suggest that power production and muscle recruitment are related. In rainbow trout, where there is longitudinal variation in muscle power output, there are also significant rostral–caudal differences in red muscle recruitment.

Ontogenetic changes of swimming kinematics in a semi-aquatic reptile (Crocodylus porosus)

Semi-aquatic animals represent a transitional locomotor condition characterised by the possession of morphological features that allow locomotion both in water and on land. Most ecologically important behaviours of crocodilians occur in the water, raising the question of whether their 'terrestrial construction' constrains aquatic locomotion. Moreover, the demands for aquatic locomotion change with life-history stage. It was the aim of this research to determine the kinematic characteristics and efficiency of aquatic locomotion in different-sized crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus). Aquatic propulsion was achieved primarily by tail undulations, and the use of limbs during swimming was observed only in very small animals or at low swimming velocities in larger animals. Over the range of swimming speeds we examined, tail beat amplitude did not change with increasing velocity, but amplitude increased significantly with body length. However, amplitude expressed relative to body length decreased with increasing body length. Tail beat frequency increased with swimming velocity but there were no differences in frequency between different-sized animals. Mechanical power generated during swimming and thrust increased non-linearly with swimming velocity, but disproportionally so that kinematic efficiency decreased with increasing swimming velocity. The importance of unsteady forces, expressed as the reduced frequency, increased with increasing swimming velocity. Amplitude is the main determinant of body-size-related increases in swimming velocity but, compared with aquatic mammals and fish, crocodiles are slow swimmers probably because of constraints imposed by muscle performance and unsteady forces opposing forward movement. Nonetheless, the kinematic efficiency of aquatic locomotion in crocodiles is comparable to that of fully aquatic mammals, and it is considerably greater than that of semi-aquatic mammals.

Functional morphology of undulatory pectoral fin locomotion in the stingray taeniura lymma (Chondrichthyes: dasyatidae)

Rajiform locomotion is a unique swimming style found in the batoid fishes (skates and rays) in which thrust is generated by undulatory waves passing down the enlarged pectoral fins. We examined the kinematic patterns of fin motion and the motor patterns of pectoral fin muscles driving the locomotor system in the blue-spot stingray Taeniura lymma. Our goals in this study were to determine overall patterns of fin motion and motor control during undulatory locomotion, to discover how these patterns change with swimming velocity and to correlate muscle function with kinematics and pectoral morphology. Kinematic data were recorded from five individuals over a range of swimming speeds from 22 to 55 cm s(-)(1) (0.9-3.0 DL s(-)(1), where DL is body disc length). Electromyographic (EMG) data were recorded from three individuals over a range of velocities (1.2-3.0 DL s(-)(1)) at seven locations (four dorsal, three ventral) along the pectoral fin. As swimming velocity increases, fin-beat frequency, wavespeed and stride length increase, number of waves and reduced frequency decrease and fin amplitude remains constant. There is variability among individuals in frequency and amplitude at a given speed. An inverse relationship was found in which a high fin-beat frequency is associated with a low fin amplitude and a low fin-beat frequency is associated with a high fin amplitude. The motor pattern of undulatory locomotion is alternate firing activity in the dorsal and ventral muscles as the wave moves along the fin from anterior to posterior. Fin muscles are active along the entire length of the fin except at the lowest speeds. As swimming velocity and fin-beat frequency increase, the time of activation of posterior muscles becomes earlier relative to the onset of activity in the anterior dorsal muscles. The duration of muscle activity is longer in the ventral muscles than in the dorsal muscles, indicating that they play a central role in the power stroke of the fin-beat cycle. The anterior muscles (dorsal and ventral) are active for a relatively longer part of the stride cycle than the posterior muscles. Both the anterior position and the large duty factor of the anterior muscles reflect the role of these muscles in initial wave generation. Synchronous recordings of kinematic data with EMG data reveal that the anterior dorsal and middle ventral muscles do mostly positive work, whereas the dorsal and ventral posterior muscles do negative work at most swimming speeds.

Tail kinematics of the chub mackerel Scomber japonicus: testing the homocercal tail model of fish propulsion.

Scombrid fishes possess a homocercal caudal fin with reduced intrinsic musculature and dorso-ventrally symmetrical external and internal morphology. Because of this symmetrical morphology, it has often been assumed that scombrid caudal fins function as predicted by the homocercal tail model. According to that model, the caudal fin moves in a dorso-ventrally symmetrical manner and produces no vertical lift during steady swimming. To test this hypothesis, we examined the tail kinematics of chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus (24.8+/-1.3 cm total length, L). Markers were placed on the caudal fin to identify specific regions of the tail, and swimming chub mackerel were videotaped from lateral and posterior views, allowing a three-dimensional analysis of tail motion. Analysis of tail kinematics suggests that, at a range of swimming speeds (1.2-3.0 L s(-)(1)), the dorsal lobe of the tail undergoes a 15 % greater lateral excursion than does the ventral lobe. Lateral excursion of the dorsal tail-tip also increases significantly by 32 % over this range of speeds, indicating a substantial increase in tail-beat amplitude with speed. In addition, if the tail were functioning in a dorso-ventrally symmetrical manner, the tail should subtend an angle of 90 degrees relative to the frontal (or xz) plane throughout the tail beat. Three-dimensional kinematic analyses reveal that the caudal fin actually reaches a minimum xz angle of 79.8 degrees. In addition, there is no difference between the angle subtended by the caudal peduncle (which is anterior to the intrinsic tail musculature) and that subtended by the posterior lobes of the tail. Thus, asymmetrical movements of the tail are apparently generated by the axial musculature and transmitted posteriorly to the caudal fin. These results suggest that the caudal fin of the chub mackerel is not functioning symmetrically according to the homocercal model and could produce upward lift during steady swimming.

Muscle activity in steady swimming scup, Stenotomus chrysops, varies with fiber type and body position.

The red and pink aerobic muscle fibers are used to power steady swimming in fishes. We examined red and pink muscle recruitment and function during swimming in scup, Stenotomus chrysops, through electromyography and high-speed ciné. Computer analysis of electromyograms (EMGs) allowed determination of initial speed of muscle recruitment and duty cycle and phase of muscle electromyographic activity for both fiber types. This analysis was carried out for three longitudinal positions over a range of swimming speeds. Fiber type and longitudinal position both affected swimming speed of initial recruitment. Posterior muscle is recruited at the lowest swimming speed, whereas more anterior muscle is not initially recruited until higher speeds. At more anterior positions, the initial recruitment of pink muscle occurs at a higher swimming speed than the recruitment of red muscle. The duty cycle of pink muscle EMG activity is significantly shorter than that of red muscle, reflecting a difference in the onset time of activation during each cycle of length change: pink muscle onset time follows that of red. The different patterns of usage of red and pink muscle reflect differences in their contraction kinetics. Because pink muscle generates force more rapidly than red muscle, it can be activated later in each tailbeat cycle. Pink muscle is used to augment red muscle power production at higher swimming speeds, allowing a higher aerobically based steady swimming speed than that possible by red muscle alone.

Physiology and behaviour of free-swimming Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) facing fluctuating salinity and oxygenation conditions

1. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) acclimated to a temperature of 5 &deg;C and 30 salinity were equipped with ultrasonic transmitters which allowed continuous monitoring of their heart rate and their position in the water column. Fish were placed in a 125 m3 tower tank which permitted various environmentally relevant modifications of the salinity and oxygenation conditions. Cod physiological and behavioural responses were followed in parallel to the environmental manipulations. Some of the experimental conditions studied in the tower tank were also reproduced in a swimming respirometer where fish oxygen consumption and heart rate were monitored at various levels of activity. 2. Lowering salinity from 30 to 26 did not change resting oxygen consumption, but increased active oxygen consumption. 3. Lowering salinity from 30 to 26 increased heart rate over the whole range of swimming speeds except at maximum speed. 4. Lowering oxygen tension to 9 kPa decreased oxygen consumption over the whole range of swimming speeds and decreased resting heart rate. 5. Low salinity did not significantly affect the relationship between heart rate and oxygen consumption. 6. Low oxygen levels decreased the oxygen transported per heart beat. 7. In the tower tank, bursts of activity were associated with tachycardias. 8. In uniform conditions, fish swam more deeply during the day than at night. 9. After an exploratory period of approximately 6 h, fish chose to remain in a low-salinity upper layer of the tank. Thereafter, high salinities were avoided. Fish tended to select low salinities if a choice was provided. 10. Fish generally avoided zones of low oxygen (<9 kPa) but continued voluntarily to enter regions with values as low as 3.0 kPa for short excursions or if food was offered.

Exercise metabolism in two species of cod in arctic waters

The northern range of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), overlaps the southern range of the Greenland cod (Gadus ogac), in the coastal waters of Western Greenland. The availability of a temperate water species (G. morhua) in the same area and oceanographic conditions as a polar species (G. ogac) presented us with the ideal circumstances to test the hypothesis of metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) since many of the problems associated with MCA studies (adaptation of the animals beyond their normal temperature range or mathematical extrapolation of data to common temperatures) could thus be avoided. We therefore used a swim tunnel to measure oxygen consumption in fish at 4°C over a range of swimming speeds and following exhaustion, monitored the size of the oxygen debt and time of oxygen debt repayment. There were no significant differences in standard (60–72 mg O2 kg−1· hr−1), routine (76 mg O2 kg−1·hr−1), active (137mg O2 kg−1·hr−1), or maximal (157 mg O2 kg−1·hr−1) metabolic rate, metabolic scope (2.5) or critical swimming speed (2.2 BL·s−1) between the two species. Following exhaustive swimming, however, the half-time for oxygen debt repayment in G. ogac (43 min) was almost twice that of G. morhua (25 min). Despite its circumpolar distribution, therefore, there was no evidence of MCA in G. ogac.

Respiratory Response of Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) to Suspended Solids

Oxygen consumption rates were measured individually for mixed groups of male, female, and immature striped bass,Morone saxatilis, in filtered Patuxent River, Maryland, water and in filtered water containing suspensions of either fuller’s earth or Patuxent River sediment. Oxygen consumption was determined at fixed swimming speeds at two temperatures, 15 and 22.5°C. Oxygen consumption of striped bass in filtered 15°C water increased as swimming speed increased. At 22.5°C, the same range of swimming speeds had no effect on rates of oxygen consumption. Similar data were obtained with fish swimming at the same speeds in water containing 0.79 g per liter fuller’s earth particles (15°C), and among those swimming at 31.7 and 49.0 cm per s in water containing 1.32 g per 1 Patuxent River sediment (22.5°C). Male and female striped bass respiration rates were similar under all test conditions. At 15°C, striped bass oxygen consumption rates during exposure to fuller’s earth while swimming at 8.6 and 31.7 cm per s did not differ from rates of fish swimming at the same speeds in filtered water. At 49.0 cm per s, rates were significantly depressed. Respiration rates of fish exposed to Patuxent River sediment at 22.5°C while swimming at 31.7 and 49.0 cm per s were significantly lower than those of fish in filtered water. Respiratory response of striped bass to suspended particle stress was manifested by depressed oxygen consumption. This is considered a short-term response to an acute stress. This response and the potential for hematological response to chronic suspended particle stress are discussed.

Apparent Specific Dynamic Action of Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides

Oxygen consumption attributable to apparent specific dynamic action (SDA) was measured in relation to feeding level and body weight in largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, forced to swim at 1.7 body lengths/s (BL/s). Apparent SDA rose curvilinearly with ration size, the coefficient increasing with weight of bass. For a ration of fixed percent body weight/day, apparent SDA increased curvilinearly with weight of bass, the rate being most pronounced at higher levels of food intake. Apparent SDA expressed in energy units as a percent of ration ingested did not differ significantly with weight of fish or meal size. The overall mean apparent SDA ± SD was 14.19 ± 4.19% of the energy ingested. Time required for oxygen consumption to subside to pre-feeding levels increased with ration size and weight of bass.Over the range of swimming speeds from 1.4 to 2.5 BL/s, there were no differences in apparent SDA of similar size bass fed a ration of 4% body weight/day. Similarly, time for elevated levels of oxygen consumption to return to prefeeding rates was independent of swimming speed.