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In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism

Schooling in fish is linked to a number of factors such as increased foraging success, predator avoidance, and social interactions. In addition, a prevailing hypothesis is that swimming in groups provides energetic benefits through hydrodynamic interactions. Thrust wakes are frequently occurring flo...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Thandiackal, Robin, Lauder, George
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10032654/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36744863
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81392
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author Thandiackal, Robin
Lauder, George
author_facet Thandiackal, Robin
Lauder, George
author_sort Thandiackal, Robin
collection PubMed
description Schooling in fish is linked to a number of factors such as increased foraging success, predator avoidance, and social interactions. In addition, a prevailing hypothesis is that swimming in groups provides energetic benefits through hydrodynamic interactions. Thrust wakes are frequently occurring flow structures in fish schools as they are shed behind swimming fish. Despite increased flow speeds in these wakes, recent modeling work has suggested that swimming directly in-line behind an individual may lead to increased efficiency. However, only limited data are available on live fish interacting with thrust wakes. Here we designed a controlled experiment in which brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, interact with thrust wakes generated by a robotic mechanism that produces a fish-like wake. We show that trout swim in thrust wakes, reduce their tail-beat frequencies, and synchronize with the robotic flapping mechanism. Our flow and pressure field analysis revealed that the trout are interacting with oncoming vortices and that they exhibit reduced pressure drag at the head compared to swimming in isolation. Together, these experiments suggest that trout swim energetically more efficiently in thrust wakes and support the hypothesis that swimming in the wake of one another is an advantageous strategy to save energy in a school.
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spelling pubmed-100326542023-03-23 In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism Thandiackal, Robin Lauder, George eLife Physics of Living Systems Schooling in fish is linked to a number of factors such as increased foraging success, predator avoidance, and social interactions. In addition, a prevailing hypothesis is that swimming in groups provides energetic benefits through hydrodynamic interactions. Thrust wakes are frequently occurring flow structures in fish schools as they are shed behind swimming fish. Despite increased flow speeds in these wakes, recent modeling work has suggested that swimming directly in-line behind an individual may lead to increased efficiency. However, only limited data are available on live fish interacting with thrust wakes. Here we designed a controlled experiment in which brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, interact with thrust wakes generated by a robotic mechanism that produces a fish-like wake. We show that trout swim in thrust wakes, reduce their tail-beat frequencies, and synchronize with the robotic flapping mechanism. Our flow and pressure field analysis revealed that the trout are interacting with oncoming vortices and that they exhibit reduced pressure drag at the head compared to swimming in isolation. Together, these experiments suggest that trout swim energetically more efficiently in thrust wakes and support the hypothesis that swimming in the wake of one another is an advantageous strategy to save energy in a school. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2023-02-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10032654/ /pubmed/36744863 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81392 Text en © 2023, Thandiackal and Lauder https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Physics of Living Systems
Thandiackal, Robin
Lauder, George
In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism
title In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism
title_full In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism
title_fullStr In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism
title_full_unstemmed In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism
title_short In-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism
title_sort in-line swimming dynamics revealed by fish interacting with a robotic mechanism
topic Physics of Living Systems
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10032654/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36744863
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81392
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