Volvox barberi W. Shaw is a volvocalean green alga composed of biflagellated cells. Vovocales with 16 cells or more form spherical colonies, and their largest members have germ-soma separation (all species in the genus Volvox). V. barberi is the largest Volvox species recorded in terms of cell number (10,000-50,000 cells) and has the highest somatic to reproductive cell ratio (S/R). Since they ...

Animals like the sandfish lizard (Scincus scincus) that live in desert sand locomote on and within a granular medium whose resistance to intrusion is dominated by frictional forces. Recent kinematic studies revealed that the sandfish utilizes a wave of body undulation during swimming. Models predict that a particular combination of wave amplitude and wavelength yields maximum speed for a given ...

Station-holding performance was determined on a smooth substratum and on a grid substratum for three species of benthic fishes differing in body shape, surface texture, density, friction coefficient and behavioural repertoire. The grid was made of wires parallel to the flow, which raised fish into the free stream. Limited observations were also made on the benthopelagic cod. Station-holding per...

A new forced-swimming apparatus for determining maximum swimming time in mice was devised for use in the evaluation of the endurance capacity of Std and ddY and CDF1 mice after various diet and drug treatments. With the apparatus, a water current is generated by circulating water with a pump in a swimming pool. A spout and suction slit were contrived to generate a constant current while the str...

The swimming of whales, whose well-authenticated maximum speed is 15 knots or more, is of interest not only to the biologist but also to those who would emulate this performance by artificial means. Fundamental to such a study is a knowledge of the swimming movement, which is not easily observed and has long been disputed. In this paper we give an account of this movement based on two separate ...

Adult trout Oncorhynchus mykiss fitted with a dorsal aortic catheter were exposed to 288+/-15 micromol l(-1) (mean +/- S.E.M.) total ammonia for 24h in water at a pH of 8.39+/-0.02, while swimming at a speed equivalent to 0.75 bodylengths s(-1) (BLs(-1)) in a Brett-type tunnel respirometer. The fish were then exposed to stepwise increments in swimming speed (0.25 BLs(-1) every 30 min) until exh...

The influence of temperature-induced changes in water viscosity on the swimming performance and kinematics of larval Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) was examined using high-speed video recording. The physical effects of viscosity were measured separately from the physiological (Q10) effects of temperature by increasing the viscosity using methyl cellulose. Voluntary swimming speeds of large ...

Right This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Masuda, R. (2011), Ontogeny of swimming speed, schooling behaviour and jellyfish avoidance by Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus. Journal of Fish Biology, 78: 1323‒1335, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.02936.x; This is not the published version. Please cite only the published...

Swimming performance of fish is often improved following periods of moderate exercise training. To examine the effects of training regimes on swimming performance of juvenile bream Megalobrama pellegrini (5.10 ± 0.08 g), fish were held in slow-flowing water (control), or subjected to exercise training at 1 body length (BL) s−1, 2 BL s−1 or 4 BL s−1, or were given exhaustive chasing training dai...

Telemetry studies on aquatic animals often use external tags to monitor migration patterns and help to inform conservation effort. However, external tags are known to impair swimming energetics dramatically in a variety of species, including the endangered European eel. Due to their high swimming efficiency, anguilliform swimmers are very susceptibility for added drag. Using an integration of s...