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Dryad

Convergence of undulatory swimming kinematics across a diversity of fishes

Cite this dataset

Goerig, Elsa et al. (2021). Convergence of undulatory swimming kinematics across a diversity of fishes [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bg79cnp9x

Abstract

Fishes exhibit an astounding diversity of locomotor behaviors, from classic swimming with their body and fins to jumping, flying, walking, and burrowing.  Fishes that use their body and caudal fin (BCF) during undulatory swimming have been traditionally divided into modes based on the length of the propulsive body wave and the ratio of head:tail oscillation amplitude: anguilliform, sub-carangiform, carangiform and thunniform. This classification was first proposed based on key morphological traits, such as body stiffness and elongation, to group fishes based on their expected swimming mechanics. Here, we present a comparative study of 44 diverse species quantifying kinematics and morphology of BCF-swimming fishes. Our results reveal that most species we studied share similar oscillation amplitude during steady locomotion that can be modeled using a second-degree order polynomial. The length of the propulsive body wave was shorter for species classified as anguilliform and longer for those classified as thunniform, although substantial variability existed both within and among species. Moreover, there was no decrease in head:tail amplitude from anguilliform to thunniform mode of locomotion as we expected from the traditional classification. While the expected swimming modes correlated with morphological traits, they did not accurately represent the kinematics of BCF locomotion. These results indicate that even fish species differing as substantially in morphology as tuna and eel exhibit statistically similar two-dimensional midline kinematics and point toward unifying locomotor hydrodynamic mechanisms that can serve as the basis for understanding aquatic locomotion and controlling biomimetic aquatic robots.

Usage notes

The data and code available here allow to reproduce the results presented in the article.

Funding

National Science Foundation, Award: 093088-17158

Office of Naval Research, Award: N000141410533

Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies