drag
- Remoras pick where they stick on blue whales
Highlighted Article: Analysis of previously undocumented skimming and sliding behaviors used by remoras reveals they preferentially adhere to areas with reduced drag on blue whales.
- Thrust generation during steady swimming and acceleration from rest in anguilliform swimmers
Summary: During early acceleration from rest, sea lampreys employ distinctive, high-amplitude kinematics that produce thrust through the creation of a high-pressure region just posterior to the head.
- The effect of air resistance on the jump performance of a small parasitoid wasp, Anagyrus pseudococci (Encyrtidae)
Summary: In a small sexually dimorphic parasitoid wasp, smaller males pay a higher penalty of air resistance during take-off jumps. Nevertheless, both sexes achieve outstanding jump heights compared with their body size.
- The comparative hydrodynamics of rapid rotation by predatory appendages
Highlighted Article: Blade-element analysis and computational fluid dynamics are both effective for analyzing mantis shrimp strike hydrodynamics. Mantis shrimp appendage diversification is strongly impacted by the hydrodynamic consequences of size and kinematics.
- Assessing hydrodynamic space use of brown trout, Salmo trutta, in a complex flow environment: a return to first principles
Summary: New techniques are used to experimentally demonstrate that energy conservation strategies play a key role in brown trout space use.
- Aerodynamic consequences of wing morphing during emulated take-off and gliding in birds
Summary: Wing posture has a greater effect on aerodynamic performance during emulated flapping than during emulated gliding. Extended wing morphology (i.e. emarginate primaries) may be more important during take-off and landing than during gliding.
- Body density and diving gas volume of the northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)
Summary: Body density and diving gas volume, two important but poorly understood physiological characteristics of beaked whales, are revealed through analysis of hydrodynamic performance during glides.
- Mechanical challenges to freshwater residency in sharks and rays
Summary: The high negative buoyancy of elasmobranchs increases the cost of locomotion and may be responsible for the scarcity of sharks in fresh water.