In nature, the caudal fins of fish species are frequently lost to some extent by aggressive behaviour, predation and diseases. To test whether the swimming performance of fish with different swimming capacities would be differentially affected due to caudal fin loss and regeneration, we investigated the critical swimming speed (Ucrit), swimming metabolic rate (M(O2)), tail beat frequency (f(TB)...

Four new species of Badis are described from West Bengal, India. Badis andrewraoi, new species, is diagnosed by a combination of characters which include absence of a black caudal-fin margin, absence of a conspicuous dark blotch on pectoral-fin base, absence of cleithral and opercular blotches, absence of a blotch on the dorsolateral aspect of the caudal peduncle, absence of an ocellus on the c...

A new species of dart fish, Parioglossus galzini sp. nov., is described based on specimens collected in Haurei Bay, Rapa Island (French Polynesia). It is distinguished from all other described species of Parioglossus as follows: dark lateral body stripe absent, 100 or more scales in longitudinal series from above pectoral-fin base to base of caudal fin, pectoral-fin rays 19–21, membrane of firs...

This paper presents a mechanical actuator for the biomimetic propulsion of swimming devices and the experimental study of the effect of the caudal fin elasticity on the overall performance. The design of the proposed drive allows the DC motor to operate at constant speed, so all the power of the motor is spent only for the motion of the caudal fin. A prototype of the actuator, in which the caud...

Triplophysa daochengensis sp. nov. is described from the Daocheng River, a northern tributary of the Jinsha River in Sichuan Province, China. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: body smooth and scales absent; lateral line complete; caudal peduncle compressed, depth unchanging; head length equal to caudal-peduncle length; lower jaw shovel-shaped; ...

During a survey of the Mali Hka River drainage in Hponkanrazi Wildlife Sanctuary in December 2015, a new species was collected and is described herein as Oreoglanis hponkanensis. It is a member of the Oreoglanis siamensis species group and can be distinguished from its congeners in having a unique combination of the following characters: lower lip with median notch and posterior margin entire, ...

BACKGROUND The zebrafish has the capacity to regenerate many tissues and organs. The caudal fin is one of the most convenient tissues to approach experimentally due to its accessibility, simple structure and fast regeneration. In this work we investigate how the regenerative capacity is affected by recurrent fin amputations and by experimental manipulations that block regeneration. METHODOLOG...

The objective of this study is to develop a controller to perform trajectory tracking for a Biomimetic Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (BAUV). A mathematical model of a BAUV including both a caudal fin and pectoral fins is proposed for the motion simulation. Control patterns to manipulate the caudal fin and a pair of pectoral fins are developed. For body-caudal fin control, parameters that are es...

There are approximately 50 muscles that control tail fin shape in most teleost fishes, and although myotomal muscle function has been extensively studied, little work has been done on the intrinsic musculature that controls and shapes the tail. In this study we measured electrical activity in intrinsic tail musculature to determine if these muscles are active during steady rectilinear locomotio...

Olyra saginata, new species, is described from the Kaladan [=Kolodyne] River system in Mizoram, northeast India. It differs from congeners in having the following unique combination of characters: interorbital distance 27.9-35.9% HL; 54-66 lateral-line pores; body depth at anus 10.5-12.0% SL; length of adipose-fin base 17.3-22.4% SL; adipose fin separate from upper principal caudal-fin rays; po...