Figures
3D computational models explain how fish power swimming
For undulatory swimming, fish form posteriorly traveling waves of body bending by activating their muscles sequentially along the body. However, experimental observations have shown that the muscle activation wave does not simply match the bending wave. Ming et al. use 3D computational fluid dynamics models to explain the muscle activation patterns by computing and analyzing the internal torque and power required for eel-like and mackerel-like swimming. They provide a mechanical picture in which the body shape, body movement, muscles, tendons, and body elasticity of a mackerel (or similar) orchestrate to make swimming efficient.
Image Credit: Bowen Jin, Beijing Computational Science Research Center (CSRC)
Citation: (2019) PLoS Computational Biology Issue Image | Vol. 15(9) September 2019. PLoS Comput Biol 15(9): ev15.i09. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pcbi.v15.i09
Published: September 30, 2019
Copyright: © 2019 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
For undulatory swimming, fish form posteriorly traveling waves of body bending by activating their muscles sequentially along the body. However, experimental observations have shown that the muscle activation wave does not simply match the bending wave. Ming et al. use 3D computational fluid dynamics models to explain the muscle activation patterns by computing and analyzing the internal torque and power required for eel-like and mackerel-like swimming. They provide a mechanical picture in which the body shape, body movement, muscles, tendons, and body elasticity of a mackerel (or similar) orchestrate to make swimming efficient.
Image Credit: Bowen Jin, Beijing Computational Science Research Center (CSRC)