Fig. 3. Mean (± s.e.m.) swimming speeds (A) in 20 ms bins from 120 ms prior to maximum gape to 60 ms after maximum gape for bluegill sunfish (red circles) and largemouth bass (blue squares). The instantaneous value of speed was extracted at each time, rather than averaging the speed over the interval between bin durations. (B) Mean swimming speeds (± s.e.m.) shown in A scaled to the initial swimming speed 120 ms prior to maximum gape. Shaded areas indicate the time prior to maximum gape, and the unshaded areas indicate the time following maximum gape. Largemouth bass exhibit much higher swimming speeds prior to and during prey capture than do bluegill. While both species decelerate considerably following prey capture, largemouth bass exhibit a greater magnitude of deceleration. Note that, for both species, there is an increase in swimming speed immediately before maximum gape.