While wake structures of many forms of swimming and flying are well characterized, the wake generated by a freely swimming undulating fin has not yet been analyzed. These elongated fins allow fish to achieve enhanced agility exemplified by the forward, backward and vertical swimming capabilities of knifefish, and also have potential applications in the design of more maneuverable underwater veh...

A new species of seven-spined goby of the genus Chriolepis is described from five specimens collected from the continental shelf of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina in depths of ca 54 to 110 m. The "Platform Goby", Chriolepis prolata, is distinguishable from all other western Atlantic species currently assigned to the genus Chriolepis and the morphologically...

The relative timing between operculum and pectoral fin motion was examined in swimming bluegill Lepomis macrochirus to determine if respiratory fluid flows from the operculum might have an effect on flow over the pectoral fin. Five bluegill were filmed swimming at speeds from 0 5 to 1 5 body (total) lengths s . The timing of opercular pumping and pectoral fin beating was noted and analysed usin...

Pectoral fin contact in bottlenose dolphins represents one form of tactile communication. Acoustic communication associated with pectoral fin contact is an additional level of communication that may change or enhance the tactile message between two individuals. In this study, we examine vocalization types associated with pectoral fin contact in a group of captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops t...

A comprehensive understanding of the control of flexible fins is fundamental to engineering underwater vehicles that perform like fish, since it is the fins that produce forces which control the fish's motion. However, little is known about the fin's sensory system or about how fish use sensory information to modulate the fin and to control propulsive forces. As part of a research program that ...

This paper presents a locomotion control implementation of a robotic system mimicking the undulating fins of fish. To mimic the actual flexible fin of a real fish, we created a ribbon fin type actuation device with a series of connecting linkages and attached it to the robotic fish. By virtue of a specially designed strip with a slider, each link is able to turn and slide with respect to the ad...

1) Peatland Forestry, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 24, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland 2) Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40351 Jyväskylä, Finland 3) Department of Biology, University of Joensuu, P.O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland 4) Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, National Public Health Institute...

1 School of Science, Aalto University, PO Box 15500, FIN-00076 Aalto, Finland [email protected], 2 ControlThings Oy, R̊abackavägen 7, FIN-06650 Hammars, Finland [email protected] 3 Posintra Oy, Electrical Building Services Centre, Gnistvägen 1, FIN-06150 Borg̊a, Finland. [email protected] 4 School of Science, Aalto University, PO Box 15500, FIN-00076 Aalto, Finland Jan.Holm...

Juha Helenius Department of Applied Biology, PO Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland, e-mail: [email protected] Jarmo K. Holopainen MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Plant Production Research, Plant Protection, FIN-31600 Jokioinen, Finland. Current address: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, University of Kuopio, PO Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland Erja Huusel...

This is the first known report on the skeletal and muscular systems, and the skin histology, of the pectoral fin of the rare planktivorous megamouth shark Megachasma pelagios. The pectoral fin is characterized by three features: 1) a large number of segments in the radial cartilages; 2) highly elastic pectoral fin skin; and 3) a vertically-rotated hinge joint at the pectoral fin base. These fea...