Fish Swimming

✍ Scribed by John J. Videler (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 273
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Among the fishes, a remarkably wide range of biological adaptations to diverse habitats has evolved. As well as living in the conventional habitats of lakes, ponds, rivers, rock pools and the open sea, fish have solved the problems of life in deserts, in the deep sea, in the cold antarctic, and in warm waters of high alkalinity or of low oxygen. Along with these adaptations, we find the most impressive specializations of morphology, physiology and behaviour. For example we can marvel at the high-speed swimming of the marlins, sailfish and warm-blooded tunas, air-breathing in catfish and lung­ fish, parental care in the mouth-brooding cichlids and viviparity in many sharks and toothcarps. Moreover, fish are of considerable importance to the survival of the human species in the form of nutritious, delicious and diverse food. Rational exploitation and management of our global stocks of fishes must rely upon a detailed and precise insight of their biology. The Chapman & Hall Fish and Fisheries Series aims to present timely volumes reviewing important aspects of fish biology. Most volumes will be of interest to research workers in biology, zoology, ecology and physiology but an additional aim is for the books to be accessible to a wide spectrum of non-specialist readers ranging from undergraduates and postgraduates to those with an intrerest in industrial and commercial aspects of fish and fisheries.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xx
Interactions between fish and water....Pages 1-22
The structure of the swimming apparatus: muscles....Pages 23-39
The structure of the swimming apparatus: body axis and fins....Pages 41-70
The structure of the swimming apparatus: shape, skin and special adaptations....Pages 71-92
Fish kinematics: history and methods....Pages 93-112
Fish kinematics: swimming movements stride by stride....Pages 113-137
Swimming dynamics: work from muscles....Pages 139-164
Swimming dynamics: exchange of forces between fish and water....Pages 165-184
The costs of swimming....Pages 185-205
Ecological implications....Pages 207-226
Back Matter....Pages 227-260

✦ Subjects

Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Animal Physiology; Animal Ecology; Evolutionary Biology