For juvenile fish, feeding is a challenge. Their small size — often less than 5 mm in length — makes hydrodynamically capturing prey much harder because of viscosity’s relatively larger Keep reading
Tag: fish
Steering as a Boxfish
Coral reefs are full of odd-looking denizens, but one of the funniest-looking ones must be the boxfish. This family of fish lives up to its name; their bodies feature an Keep reading
Collective Catfish Convection
Gather many birds, fish, or humans together and you often get collective motion that’s remarkably fluid-like in appearance. This video shows a group of juvenile striped eel catfish, an (eventually) Keep reading
The Microscopic Ocean
When you’re the size of plankton, water may as well be molasses. Viscosity rules at these scales, and swimming plankton leave distinctive wakes that are slow to dissipate. Fish that feed on plankton use Keep reading
Catching Prey
The skinny, freshwater alligator gar can grow to more than 2 meters in length, giving it a distinct resemblance to its namesake. But this fish’s history traces back more than Keep reading
Review: “How to Walk on Water and Climb Up Walls”
“An eight-year-old girl kicked her feet back and forth on the seat of a Long Island Railroad train. I beckoned her to cover over and pointed to the top of Keep reading
The Swimming of a Dead Fish
When I was a child, my father would take me trout fishing, and I spent hours marveling from the riverbank at the trouts’ ability to, seemingly effortlessly, hold their position Keep reading
The Many Shapes of Fish
After visiting an aquarium or snorkeling near a reef, you may have wondered why fish come in so many different shapes. Given that all fish species need to get around Keep reading
Schooling Together
Since the 1970s, fluid dynamicists have chased the idea that fish swim in schools for hydrodynamic advantage. The original 2D conception of the idea placed fish in a diamond pattern Keep reading
Optimal Swimming
What do trout, sharks, and whales have in common? All are fast swimmers and share remarkable similarities in their swimming dynamics despite different sizes, shapes, and environments. A new study Keep reading