Communications Biology (Jan 2021)

Burst-and-coast swimmers optimize gait by adapting unique intrinsic cycle

  • Gen Li,
  • Intesaaf Ashraf,
  • Bill François,
  • Dmitry Kolomenskiy,
  • Frédéric Lechenault,
  • Ramiro Godoy-Diana,
  • Benjamin Thiria

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01521-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Li et al. use experimental observations of red-nose tetrafish and mathematical simulations to model the burst-and-coast swimming regime. This study shows that in order to sustain the necessary speed, fish adopt a unique intrinsic cycle by modifying the burst to coast ratio and can implement this pattern at a range of swimming speeds.