Fish can move freely through the water column and make complex three-dimensional motions to explore their environment, escape or feed. Nevertheless, the majority of swimming studies is currently limited to two-dimensional analyses. Accurate experimental quantification of changes in body shape, position and orientation (swimming kinematics) in three dimensions is therefore essential to advance b...

Assessing the movement patterns and key habitat features of breeding humpback whales is a prerequisite for the conservation management of this philopatric species. To investigate the interactions between humpback whale movements and environmental conditions off Madagascar, we deployed 25 satellite tags in the northeast and southwest coast of Madagascar. For each recorded position, we collated e...

Copper, an essential element, is toxic at elevated concentrations, and as a result of anthropogenic activities is becoming increasingly prevalent in marine environments. In this study, we examined the effects of copper on early life stages of the blue mussel, Mytilus trossulus. We assessed the impacts of increasing copper concentrations on embryo development, egg viability, sperm fertilization ...

The effects of acute and developmental temperature on maximum burst swimming speed, body size, and myofibrillar ATPase activity were assessed in tadpoles of the Pacific tree frog, Hyla regilla. Tadpoles from field-collected egg masses were reared in the laboratory at 15 degrees (cool) and 25 degrees C (warm). Body size, maximum burst swimming speed from 5 degrees to 35 degrees C, and tail myofi...

The swimming behaviour of microorganisms can be strongly influenced by the rhe­ ology of their fluid environment. In this manuscript, we experimentally investigate the effects of shear-thinning viscosity on the swimming behaviour of an undula­ tory swimmer, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Tracking methods are used to measure the swimmer’s kinematic data (including propulsion speed) and vel...

Elasmobranchs, particularly sharks, function at speed and size extremes, exerting large forces on their cartilaginous skeletons while swimming. This casts doubt on the generalization that cartilaginous skeletons are mechanically inferior to bony skeletons, a proposition that has never been experimentally verified. We tested mineralized vertebral centra from seven species of elasmobranch fishes:...

The small size and slow movement of aquatic, microscopic organisms means that the viscosity of water has a predominant influence on their motion. Temperature, through its effects on physiological processes, also influences motion. Because water viscosity is physically coupled to temperature, changes in temperature can influence the activity of microscopic organisms through both physiological an...

The average rate of swimming speed and the physiological status or stress of individual Atlantic cod Gadus morhua was monitored in response to short-term acute (STA) hypoxia (i.e. partial pressure of oxygen, PO2 , reduced from 20 9 to 4 3 kPa within 1 h at 10° C). The STA hypoxic response of Atlantic cod was associated with a large primary increase (þ29%) and a large secondary decrease ( 54%) i...