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Beyond The Kármán Gait: Knifefish Swimming In Periodic And Irregular Vortex Streets, Victor M. Ortega-Jiménez, Christopher P. Sanford
Beyond The Kármán Gait: Knifefish Swimming In Periodic And Irregular Vortex Streets, Victor M. Ortega-Jiménez, Christopher P. Sanford
Faculty and Research Publications
Neotropical freshwater fishes such as knifefishes are commonly faced with navigating intense and highly unsteady streams. However, our knowledge on locomotion in apteronotids comes from laminar flows, where the ribbon fin dominates over the pectoral fins or body bending. Here, we studied the 3D kinematics and swimming control of seven black ghost knifefish (Apteronotus albifrons) moving in laminar flows (flow speed U∞≈1-5 BL s-1) and in periodic vortex streets (U∞≈2-4 BL s-1). Two different cylinders (∼2 and ∼3 cm diameter) were used to generate the latter. Additionally, fish were exposed to an irregular wake produced by a free oscillating cylinder …